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Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


:\ 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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D 


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D 
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Coloured  covers/ 
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I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


D 


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Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


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Ce  document  est  fiimA  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

^ 

M 

12X 


16X 


20X 


28X 


32X 


ttails 
i  du 
lodifier 
r  une 
Image 


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first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
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The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

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L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  la 
gin^rositA  de: 

Library  of  Congiess 
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conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplairos  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  filn.^s  en  commenpant 
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d'impression  ou  d'iliustration,  soit  par  le  second 
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originaux  sont  film^s  en  commengant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iliustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  teiie 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff6rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


srrata 
to 


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32X 


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1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

V 


i- 


LETTERS 


or  TBI 


^      HON.   ALBERT  GALLATIN, 


y 


THE  OREGON  QUESTION. 


/^pUr 


ORIGINALLY  PUBLISHED  IN  THE  NATIONAL  INTELLIOENCER, 
JANUARY,   1846. 


Ai^' 


WASHINGTON: 

pnlWTBl)  AT  THE  OPFICB  OF  TH»  WATIOKAl  IHTRIITOKKCEII. 


1846. 


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THE   OREGON   QUESTION. 


r^f 


^h 


NO.  I. 


IT 


,  '       New  York,  January  7,  1S46. 

!  Iiad  been  a  pioneer  in  collecting  facts  and  stating  the  case. 
1  he  only  materials  within  my  reach  consisted  of  the  accounts 

;  of  voyages  previously  published,  (including  that  of  Maurelle, 
in  Harrington's  Miscellanies,)  of  the  varied  and  important  in- 
formation derived  from  Humboldt's  New  Spain,  and  of  the 
voyage  of  the  Sutil  and  Mexicano,  the  introduction  to  which 
contains  a  brief  official  account  of  the  Spanish  discoveries.  The 
statenieut  of  the  case  was  the  best  I  was  able  to  make  with  the 
materials  on  hand,  and  may  be  found  defective  in  many  re- 
spects. Since  that  time  manuscript  journals  of  several  of  the 
voyages  have  been  obtained  at  Madrid.  New  facts  have  thus 
been  added  ;  others  have  been  better  analyzed,  and  some  er- 
rors rectified.  Arguments  which  had  been  only  indicated  have 
been  enforced,  and  new  views  have  been  suggested.  The 
subject,  indeed,  seems  to  be  exhausted ;  and  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  add  any  thing  to  the  able  correspondence  between  the 
two  Governments  which  has  been  lately  published. 

Ministers  charged  with  diplomatic  discussions  are  not,  how- 
ever, m  those  official  papers  intended  for  publicarion,  to  be 
considered  as  philosophers  calmly  investigating  the  questions 
with  no  other  object  but  to  elicit  truth.  They  are  always 
to  a  certain  extent,  advocates,  who  use  their  best  endeavors  to' 
urge  and  even  strain  the  reasons  that  may  be  alleged  in  favor 
of  the  claims  set  up  by  their  Governments ;  and  in  the  same 
manner  to  repel,  if  not  to  deny,  all  that  may  be  adduced  by 
the  other  party.  Such  official  papers  are  in  fact  appeals  to 
public  opinion,  and  generally  published  when  there  remains  no 
fiope  to  conclude  for  the  i;:esent  an  amicable  arrangement. 

•  But,  though  acting  in  that  respect  as  advocates,  diplomatists 
are  essentially  ministers  of  peace,  whose  constant  and  primary 
duty  IS  mutually  to  devise  conciliatory  means  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  conflictmg  pretensions,  for  the  continuance  of  friendly 
relations,  for  preventing  war,  or  for  the  restoration  of  peace. 
It  has  unfortunately  happened  that  on  this  occasion  both  Gov- 
ernments have  assumed  such  absolute  and  exclusive  grounds 


7   '    V 


■/'        >.: 


r 


IVW    '■^^-'H'    ^tlj.l^pitl 


-!l|f**'  '"'•!'..'>' '  "i'i'U:*i'vqpv«pa«P>«|p«Mn««"i>"(ni 


f    , 


as  to  have  greatly  increased,  at  least  for  the  present,  the  obsta* 
clcs  to  an  amicable  arrangement. 

It  is  morally  impossible  for  the  bulk  of  the  people  of  any 
country  thoroughly  to  investigate  a  subject  so  complex  as  that 
of  the  respective  claims  to  the  Oregon  territory ;  and,  for  ob- 
vious reasons,  it  is  much  less  understood  by  the  great  mass  of 
the  population  in  England  than  in  the  United  States.  Every 
where,  when  the  question  is  between  the  country  and  a  for- 
eign nation,  the  people  at  large,  impelled  by  natural  and  pa- 
triotic feelings,  will  rally  around  their  Government.  For  the 
consequences  that  may  ensue,  those  who  are  intrusted  with 
the  direction  of  the  foreign  relations  are  alone  responsible. 
Whatever  may  be  the  cause,  to  whomsoever  the  result  may 
be  ascribed,  it  appears  from  the  general  style  of  the  periodical 
press,  that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  people,  both  in  Great 
Britain  and  in  the  United  States,  are  imbued  with  the  belief 
that  the  contested  territory  belongs  exclusively  to  themselves, 
and  that  any  concession  which  might  be  made  would  be  a 
boon  to  the  other  party.  Such  opinions,  if  sustained  by  either 
Government!  and  accompanied  by  corresponding  measures, 
must  necessarily  lead  to  immediate  collisions,  and  probably  to 
war.  Yet,  a  war  so  calamitous  in  itself,  so  fatal  to  the  gener- 
al interests  of  both  countries,  is  almost  universally  deprecated, 
without  distinction  of  parties,  by  all  the  rational  men  who  are 
not  carried  away  by  the  warmth  of  their  feelings. 

In  the  present  state  of  excitement,  an  immediate  amicable 
arrangement  is  almost  hopeless ;  time  is  necessary  before  the 
two  Governments  can  be  induced  to  recede  from  their  extreme 
pretensions.  In  the  mean  while,  nothing,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
should  for  the  present  be  done,  which  might  increase  the  ex- 
citement, aggravate  the  difficulties,  or  remove  the  only  remain- 
ing barrier  against  immediate  collision. 

The  United  States  claim  a  right  of  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  territory.  The  pretensions  of  the  British  Government, 
so  far  as  they  have  been  heretofore  exhibited,  though  not  ex- 
tending to  a  claim  of  absolute  sovereignty  over  the  whole,  are 
yet  such  as  cannot  be  admitted  by  the  United  States,  and,  if 
persisted  in,  must  lead  to  a  similar  result. 

If  the  claim  of  Great  Britain  be  properly  analyzed,  it  will  be 
found  that,  although  she  has  incidentally  discussed  other  ques- 
tions, she  in  fact  disregards  every  other  claim  but  that  of  actu- 
al occupancy,  and  that  she  regards  as  such  the  establishment 
of  trading  factories  by  her  subjects.  She  accordingly  claims  a 
participation  in  the  navigation  of  the  river  Columbia,  and 
would  make  that  river  the  boundary  between  the  two  Powers. 


)( 


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■^  :■:■<<} 


rmmmfmmi 


PlIi'lR  III   .  '  HtJUHiP 


•-»•     urnlii,       i.fi  ,,  iiipv  iipi  .-^ 


VMWPWV^HI  W*|  lU  1^1  •  I 


" 


I 


>fc 


■   1^   *• 


This  utter  disregard  of  the  rights  of  discovery,  particularly  of 
that  of  the  mouth,  sources,  and  course  of  a  river,  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  contiguity,  and  of  every  other  consideration  whatever, 
cannot  be  admitted  by  the  United  States.  The  ofler  of  a  de- 
tached defenceless  territory,  with  a  single  port,  and  the  recip- 
rocal offers  of  what  are  called  free  ports,  cannot  be  viewed  but 
as  derisory.  An  amicable  arrangement  by  way  of  compro- 
mise cannot  be  effected  without  a  due  regard  to  the  claims  ad- 
vanced by  both  parties,  and  to  the  expediency  of  the  dividing 
line.* 

An  equitable  division  must  have  reference  not  only  to  the 
extent  of  territo:^  but  also  to  the  other  peculiar  advantages 
attached  to  each  portion,  respectively. 

From  and  including  Fuca  Straits,  the  country  extending 
northwardly  abounds  with  convenient  seaports.  From  the 
42d  degree  of  latitude  to  those  Straits,  there  is  but  one  port  of 
any  injportancc — the  mouth  of  the  river  Columbia — and  tliis 
is  of  difficult  and  dangerous  access,  and  cannot  admit  ships  of 
war  of  a  large  size.  It  is  importawt  only  as  a  port  of  exports. 
As  one  of  common  resort  for  supplies,  or  asylum,  incase  of 
need,  for  the  numberless  American  vessels  engaged  in  the  fish- 
eries or  commerce  of  the  Pacific,  it  would  be  almost  useless, 
even  if  in  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  United  States.  It 
must  also  be  observed  that  the  navigable  channel  of  ttie  river, 
from  its  mouth  to  Puget's  island,  is,  according  to  Vancouver, 
close  along  the  northern  shore.  Great  Britain  proposes  that 
the  river  should  be  the  boundary,  and  that  the  United  States 
should  be  content  with  the  possession  of  the  port  it  offered,  in 
common  with  herself.  It  is  really  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the 
consequences  of  such  an  arrangement.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that,  in  case  of  war  between  the  two  countries,  it  would  leave 
the  United  States  without  a  single  port.and  give  to  Great  Britain 
the  indisputable  and  exclusive  control  over  those  seas  and  their 
conunerce. 

The  first  and  indispensable  step  towards  an  amicable  arrange- 
ment consists  in  the  investigation,  not  so  much  of  the  superi- 
ority of  one  claim  over  the  other,  as  of  the  question  whether 
there  be  sufficient  grounds  to  sustain  tlic  exclusive  pretensions 
of  either  Government. 

If  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  whole  of  the  contest- 
ed territory  can     i  sustained  agaiast  Great  Britain,  or  if  the 

*  I  allude  here  only  to  the  cumproinigc  |iro{x>scd  by  Great  Britain.  Her  actual 
rlaira,  as  explicitly  thus  stated  by  herself,  is  to  the  whole  territory,  limited  to  a 
right  of  joint  occupancy,  in  common  with  other  States,  leaving  the  right  of  exclu- 
sive dominion  in  abeyance. 


iwmilWgliillfiiWI 


[ 


jireteiisioiKs  oJ  iliis  Power  can  to  their  full  extent  bo  maintuin- 
cd  against  the  United  States,  it  must  be  by  either  party  assum- 
ing tiiat  tlie  other  has  no  opposite  claim  of  any  kind  whatever, 
tiiat  there  are  no  doubtful  and  debatable  questions  pending  be- 
tween the  two  countries.  This,  if  true  and  maintained,  must 
necessarily  lead  to  war,  unless  one  of  the  two  Powers  should 
yield  what  it  considers  as  its  absolute  right.  But,  if  there  bo  any 
such  debaiablo  questions,  the  way  is  still  open  for  negotiations; 
and  both  Powers  may  reeede  from  their  extreme  pretensions, 
without  any  abandonment  of  positive  rights,  without  dis- 
grace, without  impairing  national  honor  and  dignity. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  the 
whole  Oregon  territory  was  maintained  by  irrefragable  facts 
and  arguments.  These  must  be  sought  for  in  the  correspond- 
ence lately  published.  They  consist,  first,  of  the  assertion  of 
the  ancient  claim  of  Spain  to  the  absolute  sovereignty  over' 
the  wiiole  northwest  coast  of  America,  as  far  north  as  the  Gist 
degree  of  north  latitude.  Secondly,  of  the  cumulated  proofs 
which  sustain  the  claims  of  the  United  States  to  the  various 
portions  of  the  territory,  (whether  in  their  own  right,  or  as 
derived  from  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  and  the  Spanish 
discoveries,)  and  of  the  refutation  of  the  arguments  adduced 
by  the  other  party.  The  first-mentioned  position  would,  if  it 
could  be  sustained,  be  sufficient  to  prove,  and  is,  as  I  think, 
the  only  one  that  could  prove,  the  absolute  and  complete  rigljt 
of  the  United  States  to  the  whole  contested  territory. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  "  Spain  considered  the  northwest 
coast  of  America  as  exclusively  her  own;"  that  this  claim 
"  had  been  asserted  by  her,  and  maintained  with  the  inost 
vigilant  jealousy,  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  American 
!;ontinent,  or  nearly  three  centuries,  as  far  north  as  her  settle- 
ments or  missions  extended."  There  were  two  ways  of  ex- 
amining the  soundness  of  that  claim:  an  investigation  of  the 
principles  on  which  it  was  founded,  and  an  appeal  to  prece- 
dents. The  Secretary  of  State  has  abstained  from  discussing 
the  principle;  but  he  has  said  that  the  claim  of  Spain  to  sover- 
eignty "had  never  been  seriously  questioned  by  any  European 
nation;  that  it  had  been  acquiesced  in  by  all  European  Gov- 
ernments." This  appears  to  me  the  most  vulnerable  part  of 
liis  arguments. 

The  early  charters  of  the  British  monarchs  to  the  colonies 
bordering  on  the  Atlantic  extended  from  sea  to  sea,  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  with  the  single  exception  which 
excluded  from  the  grants  the  places  actually  occupied  by  the 
subjects  of  any  Christian  nation.    The  right  of  prior  occupancy 


-.^MMl^a-iili-.**!! 


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tits  sliould 
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ates  to  the 
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orrcspond- 
ssertion  of 
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lie  various 
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le  Spanisli 
is  adduced 
irould,  if  it 
IS  I  tliinlt, 
iplete  riglit 
r. 

northwest 
tliis  claiai 
the  most 
American 
her  settle- 
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discussing 
n  to  sover- 
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pean  Gov- 
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lie  colonies 
a,  from  the 
tion  which 
)ied  by  the 
occupancy 


"nw»ftP»» 


was  rerognisod;  but  the  general  claim  of  Spain  to  thn  sovor 
eignty  of  the  whole  coast  bordering  on  the  Pacific  was  utterly 
disregarded.  Had  that  claim  been  considered  as  nn<iues(ion- 
able,  had  it  been  acquiesced  in,  it  never  could  have  been  sup- 
posed that,  in  any  case  whatever,  England  could  have  a  right 
to  bestow  to  her  subjects  a  single  foot  of  land  bordering  on 
the  Pacific. 

Coming  down  to  modern  times,  the  only  nations  which  have 
set  up  any  claims  or  attempted  any  settlements  on  the  Pacific, 
north  of  the  country  actually  occupied  by  the  Spaniards,  are 
Russia,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States.  All  three  have 
asserted  claims  to  the  northwestern  coasts  of  America,  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  universal  sovereignty  claimed  by  Spain:  Rus- 
sia and  England  from  the  time  when  their  flags  first  floated 
along  the  coast  and  their  subjects  landed  on  its  shores;  the 
United  States  from  a  similar  date,  or  at  least  from  the  time 
when  they  acquired  Louisiana. 

If  the  right  of  Spain  was  absolute  and  exclusive  to  the  whole, 
there  was  no  reason  why  it  should  not  have  extended  beyond 
the  sixty-first  degree  of  latitude.  The  right  of  Russia  was 
founded  only  on  her  discoveries  and  the  establishment  of  some 
trading  factories.  She  respected  the  right  of  Spain  only  as  far 
as  it  did  not  interfere  with  her  own  claim.  She  has,  in  fact, 
extended  this  more  than  six  degrees  further  south ;  and  to  this 
the  United  States,  who  had  acquired  all  the  rights  of  Spain, 
have  assented  by  a  solemn  treaty.  Whatever  might  be  the 
boundary  acquiesced  in  by  Spain,  it  was  not  Russia  which 
recognised  the  claim  of  Spain;  it  was  Spain  which  recognised 
that  her  claim  was  not  unlimited.  And  let  it  be  also  observed, 
that,  since  Spain  still  claimed  as  far  north  as  the  sixty-first  de- 
gree of  north  latitude,  (the  southern  limit  of  the  Russian  fac- 
tories when  first  visited  by  Spanish  navigators,)  the  United 
States,  if  they  believed  the  Spanish  right  absolute  and  ex- 
clusive, ought  not  to  have  ceded  to  Russia  a  country  extending 
more  than  six  degrees  of  latitude  along  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

Gr?at  Britain  contested  the  exclusive  claim  of  Spain  from 
the  year  1778,  the  Jate  of  Cook's  third  voyage;  and  he  was 
the  first  British  navigator  that  had  for  more  than  two  centuries 
appeared  on  those  coasts.  This  doctrine  she  has  maintained 
ever  since.  She  did  not  resist  the  exclusive  claim  of  Spain  by 
virtue  of  the  Nootka  convention,  but  prior  to  it.  It  was  on 
that  ground  that  she  imperiously  demanded  indemnity  and 
restoration  for  the  property  and  factory  of  one  of  her  subjects, 
which  had  been  forcibly  taken  by  the  Spanish  Government. 
She  even  threatened  war;  and  the  Nootka  convention  was  the 


n 


III 


:f,.^,-;-tjnL!.x.>\.,S: 


Mi 


•'.m  I  '    "  ir- 


0 


I 


rpsnii  of  ihoao  transaciions.  Wlialcver  constrnciion  mny  at 
this  time  be  given  to  that  instrument,  it  is  certain  at  least  that 
Spain  by  it  concedri'  a  portion  of  tlie  absolute  and  sovereign 
right  she  httfl  till  then  asserlod;  that  she  yielded  the  right  of 
trade  with  ihe  natives  on  all  that  part  of  the  coast  lymg  north 
of  her  actual  settlements;  and  that,  by  suffering  the  ultimate 
right  of  sovereignly  to  remain  in  abeyance,  she  made  that 
pretension  questionable  which  she  had  contended  could  not  ho 
called  in  question.  , 

With  respect  to  the  United  States,  without  recurrnig  to 
former  negotiations  which  were  not  attended  with  any  result, 
it  is  sufficient  to  advert  to  the  convention  between  them  and 
(Ireat  Britain  of  the  year  1818,  concluded  prior  to  the  date  of 
the  treaty  by  which  they  acquired  the  claims  of  Spam  to  the 
territory  north  of  the  42d  degree  of  north  latitude. 

The  United  States  at  that  time  distinctly  claimed,  m  their 
own  right  and  independent  of  the  Spanisli  claims,  that  the 
boundary  along  the  49th  parallel,  which  had  been  agreed  on 
as  that  between  them  and  Great  Brita'  •  from  the  Lake  of  tho 
Woods  to  the  Stony  Mountains,  shoula  be  extended  to  the  Pa- 
cific. To  this  division  of  the  territory  Great  Britain  would 
not  accede  ;  and  the  provision  for  a  joint  occupancy  during  the 
next  enduing  years  was  substituted.  A  clause  was  inserted, 
that  the  agreement  should  not  be  taken  to  affect  the  claims  of 
any  other  Power  or  State  to  any  part  of  the  country  west  of 
the  Stony  Mountains.  This  provision  clearly  referred  to  the 
claims  of  Russia  and  Spain.  The  northern  and  southern 
boundaries  of  the  country,  which  the  two  contracting  parties 
mieht  claim,  were  left  undefined.  Great  Britain  probably 
thought  herself  bound  by  the  Nootka  convention  to  respect 
the  Spanish  claims  to  the  extent  provided  by  that  instruinent. 
The  United  States  could  not  but  recognise  those  derived  Irom 
discovery,  with  which  they  were  at  that  time  but  iinperfectly 
acquainted,  since  their  own  claims  were  in  a  great  degree  de- 
rived from  a  similar  source.  But  the  conventiori  decisively 
proves  that  the  United  States  did  not  acquiesce  in  the  anti- 
quated claim  of  Spain  to  the  absolute  and  exclusive  sover- 
eienty  of  the  whole  country,  since,  if  they  had  recognised  that 
prior  claim  to  the  whole,  they  could  have  had  none  whatever 

to  any  portion  of  it.  .  r  .u    c»„»:oU 

It  is  theref-re  undeniable  that  the  assertion  of  the  Spanish 
claim  of  absolute  sovereignty  cannot  be  sustained  by  a  pre- 
sumed acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the  only  nations  which  now 
claim  the  country.  It  may  perhaps  be  said  that  their  opposi- 
lion  came  too  late,  and  that  they  neglected  too  long  to  protest 


■  ■UA* 


fc^ii  .Jiwfcr**,  w  ail  iihart* 


mny  at 
iast  that 
ivereign 
right  of 
ii»  north 
ultimate 
ide  that 
(i  not  h« 

iring  to 
ly  result, 
hem  and 
e  date  of 
in  to  the 

I,  in  their 
that  the 
•greed  on 
ke  of  the 
3  the  Pa- 
in wotild 
uring  the 

inserted, 
claims  of 
y  west  of 
red  to  the 

southern 
ig  parties 
probably 
to  respect 
strument. 
ived  from 
aperfectly 
legree  de- 
decisively 

the  anti- 
ve  sover- 
nised  that 
whatever 

e  Spanish 
by  a  pre- 
hich  now 

jir  opposi- 
te protest 


9 

against  \hc  Spanish  pretension  on  dm  Pacific.  No  stress  will 
\w  liid  on  Drak(f'H  voyage,  which  Imd  a  warlike  character. 
But  the  British  charters  to  their  colonics  show  that  tho.sc  pre 
tensions  were  disregarded  at  a  very  early  date.  There  was 
no  occasion  fur  opposition  or  direct  denial,  with  re.<ipect  to  the 
Pacific,  until  the  attention  of  other  nations  was  directed  to- 
wards that  remote  country.  Tiiis  was  neglected,  because  all 
the  commercial  nations  were,  in  their  attempts  to  colonize,  or 
to  conquer,  foreign  and  till  then  unexplored  regions,  attracted 
by  coimtries  far  more  accessible,  and  were  exclusively  engaged 
in  pursuits  much  more  important.  The  East  Indies  and  the 
West  India  Islands  oftbred  a  vast  and  lucrative  field  for  com- 
mercial enterprise  and  territorial  acquisition.  With  respect  to 
the  continent  of  America,  Franco,  England,  and  Holland,  most 
naturally  planted  tlieir  colonies  (tn  the  nearest  opposite  shores 
of  the  Atlantic;  and  they  did  it  in  opposition  to  tli"  r-etended 
claim  of  Spain,  which  extended  to  the  whole  of  "  lerica. 
Although  strenuously  engaged  in  extending  those  colonies 
westwardly,  these,  in  the  year  1754,  twenty  years  inly  before 
Cook's  third  voyage,  hardly  extended  beyond  the  Missi-sippi. 
What  immediate  interest  could  then  have  impelled  tltht-r 
France  (  -  England  to  enter  a  formal  protest  against  the  anti- 
quated claim  of  Spain  to  a  country  with  which  they  had  never 
attempted  even  to  trade  ?  And  what  opportunity  had  occurred 
for  doing  it  prior  to  Cook's  voyage  ? 

But,  what  is  still  more  conclusive,  the  country  in  question 
was  equally  neglected  by  Spain  herself.  Some  exploring  voy- 
ages, few  of  which  are  authentic,  were  indeed  umde  by  Span- 
ish navigators;  and  the  claims  which  maybe  derivecf  from 
their  discoveries  have  now  been  transferred  t^  the  United 
States,  so  far  as  discovery  alone  can  give  a  claim,  and  no  fur- 
ther. But  during  more  than  two' centuries  that  Spain  had  no 
competitor  on  the  Pacific,  there  was  on  her  part  no  occupa»;cy, 
no  settlement,  or  attempt  to  make  a  settlement.  She  had  some 
missions  on  the  western  coast  of  the  peninsula  of  California  •, 
but  her  missions  or  settlements  in  Northern  or  New  California 
are  of  quite  recent  date ;  that  of  the  most  southern  (San 
Diego)  in  1769,  and  that  of  the  most  northern  (San  Francisco) 
in  1776,  two  years  only  before  Cook's  arrival  at  Nootka 
Sound. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  contested  territory  had  been  utterly  neg- 
lected by  Spain.  All  the  energies,  such  as  they  were,  of  her 
Mexican  colonies  were  much  more  advantageously  applied  to 
the  improvement  of  the  vast  and  rich  countries  which  they 
had  conquered,  principally  to  the  discovery  and  working  of 


10 


ja 


the  richest  and  most  productive  mines  of  the  precious  metals 
as  yet  known. 

Anso:.'s  expedition  was  purely  military,  and  confined  to 
southern  latitudes.  But  the  narrative  drew  the  public  atten- 
tion towards  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the 
spirit  of  discovery.  Almost  immediately  after  the  peace  cf 
1763,  voyages  were  undertaken  for  that  purpose  by  the  Gov- 
ernments of  England  and  France  :  the  Pacific  was  explored  ; 
the  Russians  on  the  other  hand  had,  more  than  thirty  years 
before,  ascertained  the  continuity  of  the  American  continent 
from  Behring's  Straits  to  Mount  St.  Elias,  It  was  then,  and 
not  till  then,  that  Spain,  or  rather  the  Mexican  Government, 
awakening  from  its  long  lethargy,  extended  its  missions  to 
New  California.  In  the  year  1774,  Perez,  with  his  pilot,  Mar- 
tinez, sailed  as  far  north  as  the  northern  extremity  of  Queen 
Charlotte's  Island,  having  anchored  in  Nootka  Sound,  and,  as 
Martinez  asserts,  perceived  the  entrance  of  Fuca  Straits.  New 
and  important  discoveries  were  made  by  Quadra  and  Heceta 
in  the  year  1775.     The  sequel  is  well  known. 

But  on  what  foundation  did  the  claim  of  Spain  rest  ?  If  she 
had  indeed  an  absolute  right  to  the  whole  country  bordering  on 
the  Pacific,  derived  either  from  natural  or  international  law,  or 
from  usages  generally  recognised,  it  matters  but  little,  as  respects 
right,  whether  other  nations  had  acquiesced  in,  or  opposed, 
her  claim.  If  there  was  no  foundation  for  that  absolute  and 
exclusive  right  of  sovereignty,  Spain  could  transfer  nothing 
more  to  the  United  States  than  the  legitimate  claims  derived 
from<4ier  discoveries. 

The  discovery  gives  an  incipient  claim  not  only  to  the  iden- 
tical spot  thus  discovered,  but  to  a  certain  distance  beyond  it. 
It  has  been  admitted  that  the  claim  extends  gcHerally,  though 
not  universally,  as  far  inland  as  the  sources  of  rivers  emptying 
into  the  sea  where  the  discovery  has  been  made.  The  distance 
to  which  the  right  or  claim  extends  along  the  sea  shore  may 
not  be  precisely  defined,  and  may  vary  according  to  circum- 
stances. But  it  never  can  be  unlimited ;.it  has  never  been 
recognised  beyond  a  reasonable  extent.  Spain  was  the  first 
European  nation  which  discovered  and  occupied  Florida.  A 
claim  on  that  account  to  the  absolute  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  of  the  Atlantic  shores  as  far  as  Hudson's  Bay,  or  the 
60th  degree  of  latitude,  would  strike  every  one  as  utterly  ab- 
surd. A  claim  on  the  part  of  Spain  to  the  sovereignty  of  all 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  derived  from  her  having  established 
missions  in  California,  would  be  similar  in  its  nature  and  ex- 
tent, and  equally  inadmissible.     It  cannot  be  sustained  as  a 


aij_ 


recious  nictais 

id  confined  to 
I  public  atten- 
impulse  to  the 
the  peace  cf 
B  by  the  Gov- 
was  explored ; 
m  thirty  years 
•ican  continent 
,  was  then,  and 
1  Government, 
its  missions  to 
his  pilot,  Mar- 
miiy  of  Queen 
Sound, and,  as 
1  Straits.  New 
ira  and  Heceta 

in  rest?  If  she 
ry  bordering  on 
lational  law,  or 
ittle,  as  respects 
in,  or  opposed, 
at  absolute  and 
ansfer  nothing 
claims  derived 

nly  to  the  iden- 
ince  beyond  it. 
Herally,  though 
rivers  emptying 
I.  The  distance 
sea  shore  may 
ling  to  circum- 
las  never  been 
ti  was  the  first 
ied  Florida.  A 
Bignty  over  the 
n's  Bay,  or  the 
3  as  utterly  ab- 
vereignty  of  all 
iring  established 
nature  and  ex- 
sustained  as  a 


^"t  '  ■WWy«5BIII^Tf«»  'i^p-m 


"f^-—- 


^m^-^MtMnJUMti^Mli:- 


11 

natural  right,  nor  by  the  principles  of  international  law,  nor 
by  any  general  usage  or  precedent.  The  claim  of  Spain  rested 
on  no  such  grounds. 

It  was  derived  from  the  bull  of  the  Pope,  Alexander  VI., 
which  the  Spanish  monarchs  obtained  in  the  year  1493,  im- 
mediately after  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus.  By 
virtue  of  that  bull,  combined  with  another  previously  granted 
to  Portugal,  and  with  modifications  respecting  the  division 
line  between  the  two  Powers,  the  Pope  granted  to  them  the 
exclusive  sovereignty  over  all  the  discoveries  made  or  to  be 
made  in  all  the  heathen  portions  of  the  globe,  including,  it  must 
be  recollected,  all  the  countries  in  America  bordering  on  the 
Atlantic,  as  well  as  those  on  the  Pacific  ocean.  Yet,  even  at 
that  time,  the  Catholic  Kings  of  England  and  France  did  not 
recognise  the  authority  of  the  Pope  on  such  subjects  ;  as  evi- 
dently appears  by  the  voyages  of  Cabot,  under  the  orders  of 
Henry  VII.  of  England,  and  of  Cartier,  under  those  of  the  ' 
King  of  France,  Francis  I.  Subsequently,  th-?  colonies  planted 
by  both  countries  from  Florida  to  Hudson's  Bay  were  a  prac- 
tical and  continued  protest  and  denial  of  the  Spanish  claim  of 
absolute  sovereignty  over  the  whole  of  America;  whilst  the 
acquiescence  of  Spain  was  tantamount  to  an  abandonment  of 
that  claim  where  it  was  resisted.  Ridiculous  as  a  right  de- 
rived from  such  a  source  may  appear  at  this  time,  it  was  not 
then  thus  considered  by  Spain  ;  and  the  western  boundary  of 
Brazil  is  to  this  day  regulated  by  the  division  line  prescribed 
by  the  Pope. 

I  am  not  aware  of  any  other  principle  by  which  the  claim 
ever  was  or  can  be  sustained,  unless  it  >-e  the  idle  ceremony 
of  taking  possession,  as  it  is  called.  The  celebrated  Spaniard 
who  first  discovered  the  Pacific  ocean,  «  Balboa,  advancing  up 
to  the  middle  in  the  waves,  with  his  buckler  and  sword,  took 
possession  of  that  ocean  in  the  name  of  the  King,  his  master, 
and  vowed  to  defend  it,  with  his  arms,  against  all  his  ene- 
mies."— (Robertson.) 

I  have  dwelt  longer  on  this  subject  than  it  may  seem  to  de- 
serve. The  assertion  of  the  solidity  of  this  ancient  exclusive 
Spanish  claim  has  had  an  apparent  effect  on  public  opinion 
fatal  to  the  prospect  of  an  amicable  arrangement.  I  am  also 
fully  satisfied  that  the  resort  to  vulnerable  argum  3,  instead 
of  strengthening,  has  a  tendency  to  lessen  the  we.ght  of  the 
multiplied  proofs  by  which  the  superiority  of  the  American 
over  the  British  claim  has  been  so  fully  established. 


12 


NO.  II. 

It  lias,  it  is  believed,  been  conclusively  proved  that  the  claim 
of  the  United  States  to  absolute  sovereignty  over  the  whole 
Oregon  territory,  in  virtue  of  the  ancient  exclusive  Spanish 
claim,  is  wholly  unfounded.  The  next  question  is,  whother 
the  other  facts  and  arguments  adduced  by  either  party  establish 
a  complete  and  absolute  title  of  either  to  the  whole  :  for  the 
United  States  claim  it  explicitly ;  and,  although  the  British 
proposal  of  compromise  did  yield  a  part,  yet  her  qualified  claim 
extends  to  the  whole.  It  has  been  stated  by  herself  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  :  "  Great  Britain  claims  no  exclusive  sovereignty 
'  over  any  portion  of  that  territory.  Her  present  claim,  not  in 
'  respect  to  any  part,  but  to  the  whole,  is  limited  to  a  right  of 
f '  joint  occupancy,  in  common  with  other  States,  leaving  the 
'  right  of  exclusive  dominion  in  abeyance."  And,  again  : 
"  The  qualified  rights  which  Great  Britain  now  possesses  over 
'  the  whole  of  the  territory  in  question,  embrace  the  right  to 
'  navigate  the  waters  of  those  countries,  the  right  to  settle  in 
<  and  over  any  part  of  them,  and  the  right  freely  to  trade  with 
'  the  inhabitants  and  occupiers  of  the  same.         *  #  » 

'  It  is  fully  admitted  that  the  United  States  possess  the  same 
'  rights  ;  but  beyond,  they  possess  none." 

In  the  nature  of  things,  it  seems  almost  impossible  that  a 
complete  and  absolute  right  to  any  portion  of  America  can 
exist,  unless  it  be  by  prescriptive  and  undisputed  actual  pos- 
session and  settlements,  or  by  virtue  of  a  treaty. 

At  the  time  when  America  was  discovered,  the  law  of  na- 
tions was  altogether  unsettled.  More  than  a  century  elapsed 
before  Grotius  attempted  to  lay  its  foundation  on  natural  law 
and  the  moral  precepts  of  Christianity  ;  and,  when  sustaining 
it  by  precedents,  he  was  compelled  to  recur  to  Rome  and 
Greece.  It  was,  in  reality,  a  new  case,  to  which  no  ancient 
precedents  could  apply,*  for  which  some  new  rules  must  be 
adopted.  Gradually,  some  general  principles  were  admitted, 
never  universally,  in  their  nature  vague,  and  often  conflicting. 
For  instance,  discovery  varies,  from  the  simple  ascertaining 
of  the  continuity  of  land,  to  a  minute  exploration  of  its  va- 
rious harbors,  rivers,  &c. ;  and  the  rights  derived  from  it  may 
vary  accordingly,  and  may  occasionally  be  claimed  to  the  same 
district  by  different  nations.     There  is  no  precise  rule  for  reg- 

*  UrotiuB,  however,  sustains  the  right  of  occupation  by  a  maxim  of  the  Civil 
Roman  Code, 


-  rfT  tlf -TiT^  rt- 


wnn  i^-^'?i  II  ^  • 


t  the  claim 
the  whole 
re  Spanish 
3,  whether 
Ly  establish 
e :  for  the 
he  British 
lified  claim 
r  in  the  fol- 
lovereignty 
laim,  not  in 
I  a  right  of 
caving  the 
id,  again  : 
sesses  over 
he  right  to 
to  settle  in 
trade  with 

;s  the  same 

lible  that  u 
merica  can 
actual  pos- 

law  of  na- 

ury  elapsed 

atixral  law 

sustaining 

[ome  and 

lo  ancient 

must  be 

admitted, 

conflicting. 

.scertaining 

of  its  va- 

om  it  may 

to  the  same 

ule  for  reg- 

m  of  Ihe  Civil 


I      J      tllll  11     l^lBf  ' 


jmm_    mn^nnmjv 


ts 


ulaling  the  time  after  which  the  neglect  to  occupy  would  nul- 
lify the  right  of  prior  discovery  ;  nor  for  defining  the  extent  of 
coast  beyond  the  spot  discovered  to  which  the  discoverer  may 
be  entitled,  or  how  far  inland  his  claim  extends.  The  princi- 
ple most  generally  admitted  was,  that,  in  case  of  a  river,  the 
right  extended  to  the  whole  country  drained  by  that  river 
and  its  tributaries.  Even  this  was  not  universally  conceded. 
'I  his  right  might  be  affected  by  a  simultaneous  or  prior  dis- 
covery  and  occupancy  of  some  of  the  soiuces  of  such  river  by 
another  party  ;  or  it  might  conflict  with  a  general  claim  of 
contiguity.  This  last  claim,  when  extending  beyond  the  sources 
of  rivers  discovered  and  occupied,  is  vague  and  undefined ; 
though  it  would  seem  that  it  cannot  exceed  in  breadth  that  of  the 
territory  on  the  coast  originally  discovered  and  occupied.  A  few 
examples  will  show  the  uncertainty  resulting  from  those  va- 
rious claims,  when  they  conflicted  with  each  other. 

The  old  British  charters,  extending  from  sea  to  sea,  have 
already  been  mentioned.  They  were  founded,  beyond  the 
sources  of  the  rivers  emptying  into  the  Atlantic,  on  no  other 
principle  than  that  of  contiguity  or  continuity.  The  grant  in 
1621  of  Nova  Scolia,  by  James  the  First,  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  though  Cartier  had  more  than 
eighty-five  years  before  discovered  Ihe  mouth  of  that  river, 
and  ascended  it  as  high  up  as  the  present  site  of  Montreal,  and 
the  French  under  Champlain  had,  several  years  before  1621, 
been  settled  at  Quebec.  But  there  is  another  case  more  im- 
portant, and  still  more  in  point. 

The  few  survivors  of  the  disastrous  expedition  of  Narvaez, 
\v^ho,  coming  from  Florida,  did,  in  a  most  extraordinary  way, 
reach  Culiacan,  on  the  Pacific,  were  the  first  Europeans  who 
crossed  the  Mississippi.  Some  years  later,  Ferdinand  de  Soto, 
coming  also  from  Florida,  did,  in  the  year  1541,  reach  and  cross 
the  Mississippi  at  some  place  between  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio 
and  that  of  the  Arkansas.  He  explored  a  portion  of  the  river 
and  of  the  adjacent  country  ;  and,  after  his  death,  Moscoso, 
who  succeeded  him  in  command,  did,  in  the  year  1543,  build 
seven  brigantines  or  barques,  in  which,  with  the  residue  of  his 
followers,  he  descended  the  Mississippi,  the  nioulh  of  which 
he  reached  in  seventeen  days.  Thence  putting  to  sea  with  his 
frail  vessels,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  reach  the  Spanish 
port  of  Panuco,  on  the  Mexican  coast.  The  right  of  discovery 
clearly  belonged  to  Spain ;  but  she  had  neglected  for  near  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  to  make  any  settlement  on  the  great 
nver  or  any  of  its  tributaries.  The  French,  coming  from  Can- 
ada, reached  the  Mississippi  in  the  year  1680,  and  ascended  it 


14 


as  high  up  as  St.  Aiilliony's  Falls  ;  and  La  Salle  descended  it 
in  1682  to  its  mouth.  The  French  Government  did,  in  virtue 
of  that  second  discovery,  claim  the  country,  subsequently 
founded  New  Orleans,  and  formed  several  other  settlements  in 
the  interior,  on  the  Mississippi  or  its  waters.  Spain  almost 
immediately  occupied  Pensacola  and  Nacogdoches,  in  order  to 
check  the  progress  of  the  French  eastwardly  and  westwardly ; 
but  she  did  not  attempt  to  disturb  them  in  their  .settlemeuts  on 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  We  have  here  the  proof  of 
a  prior  right  of  discovery  being  superseded,  when  too  long 
neglected,  by  that  of  actual  occupancy  aud  settlement. 

The  French,  by  virtue  of  having  thus  discovered  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi,  of  having  ascended  it  more  than  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  of  having  explored  the  Ohio,  the  Wabash,  and 
the  Illinois,  from  their  respective'mouths  to  their  most  remote 
sources,  and  of  having  formed  several  settlements  as  above 
mentioned,  laid  claim  to  the  whole  country  drained  by  the 
main  river  and  its  tributaries.  They  accordingly  built  forts  at 
Le  BoBuf,  high  up  the  Allegany  river,  and  on  the  site  where 
Pittsburg  now  stands.  On  the  ground  of  discovery  or  settle- 
ment, Great  Britain  had  not  the  slightest  claim.  General,  then 
Colonel  Washington,  was  the  first  who,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  and  in  the  year  1754,  planted  the  British  banner  on  the 
western  waters.  The  British  claim  was  founded  principally 
on  the  ground  of  contiguity,  enforced  by  oiher  considerations. 
The  strongest  of  these  was,  that  it  could  not  consist  with 
natural  law  that  the  British  colonies,  with  a  population  of  near 
two  millions,  should  be  confined  to  the  narrow  belt  of  land 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Allegany  mountains,  and  that 
the  right  derived  from  the  discovery  of  the  main  river  should 
be  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  to  allow  the  French  colonies, 
with  a  population  of  fifty  thousand,  rightfully  to  claim  the 
whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  contest  was  decided  by 
the  sword.  By  the  treaty  of  peace  of  1763,  the  Mississippi, 
with  the  exception  of  New  Orleans  and  its  immediate  vicinity, 
was  made  the  boundary.  The  P'rench  not  only  lost  all  that 
part  of  the  valley  which  lay  east  of  that  river,  but  they  were 
compelled  to  cede  Canada  to  Great  Britain. 

It  may,  however,  happen  that  all  the  various  claims  from 
which  a  title  may  be  derived,  instead  of  pertaining  to  several 
Powers,  and  giving  rise  to  conflicting  pretensions,  are  united, 
and  rightfully  belong  to  one  nation  alone.  This  union,  if  entire, 
may  justly  be  considered  as  giving  a  complete  and  exclusive 
title  to  the  sovere.gnty  of  that  part  of  the  country  embraced 
by  such  united  clams. 


15 


The  position  assumed  by  the  British  Government,  that  those 
various  claims  exclude  each  other,  and  that  the  assertion  of 
one  forbids  an  appeal  to  the  others,  is  obviously  untenable. 
All  that  can  be  said  in  that  respect  is,  that  if  any  one  jiaim  is 
alone  sufficient  to  establish  a  complete  and  indisputable  title, 
an  appeal  to  others  is  superfluous.  Thus  far,  and  no  farther, 
can  the  objection  be  maintained.  The  argument  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  in  reality  was,  that  the  Government  con- 
sidered the  title  derived  from  the  ancient  exclusive  Spanish 
claim  as  indisputable ;  but  that,  if  this  was  denied,  all  the 
other  just  claims  of  the  United  States  taken  together  consti- 
tuted a  complete  title,  or  at  least  far  superior  to  any  that  could 
be  adduced  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain. 

It  is  not  intended  to  enter  into  the  merits  of  the  question, 
which  has  been  completely  discussed,  since  the  object  of  this 
paper  is  only  to  show  that  there  remain  on  both  sides  certain 
debatable  questions;  and  that  therefore  both  Governments 
may,  if  so  disposed,  recede  from  some  of  their  pretensions, 
without  any  abandonment  of  positive  rights,  and  without  im- 
pairing national  honor  and  dignity. 

Although  Great  Britian  seems,  in  this  discussion,  to  have  re- 
lied almost  exclusively  on  the  right  derived  from  actual  occu- 
pancy and  settlement,  she  cannot  reject  absolutely  those  de- 
rived from  other  sources.    She  must  admit  that,  both  in  theory 
and  practice,  the  claims  derived  from  prior  discovery,  from 
contiguity,  from  the  principle  which  gives  to  the  first  discover- 
er of  the  mouth  of  a  river  and  of  its  course  a  claim  to  the 
whole  country  drained  by  such  river,  have  all  been  recognised 
to  a  certain,  though  not  well-defined  extent,  by  all  the  Euro- 
pean nations  claiming  various  portions  of  America.     And  she 
cannot  deny  the  facts,  that  (as  Mr.  Greenhow  justly  concludes) 
the  sea  shore  had  been  generally  examined  from  the  42d,  and 
minutely  from  the  45th  to  the  48th  degree  of  latitude,  Nootka 
Sound  discovered,  and  the  general  direction  of  the  coast  from 
the  48lh  to  the  58th  degree  of  latitude   ascertained,  by  the 
Spanish  expeditions,  in  the  years  1774  and   1775,  of  Perez, 
Heceta,  and  Bodega  y  Quadra ;  that  the  American  Captain 
Gray  was  the  first  who,  in  1792,  entered  into  and  ascertained 
the  existence  of  the  River  Columbia,  and  the  place  where  it 
emptied  into  the  sea ;  that,  prior  to  that  discovery,  the  Span- 
iard Heceta  was  the  first  who  had  been  within  the  bay,  called 
Icption  Bay  by  Meares,  into  which  the  river  does  empty  • 
that,  of  the  four  navigators  who  had  been  in  that  bay  prior  to' 
Gray's  final  discovery, the  Spaniard  Heceta  and  the  American 
Gray  were  the  only  ones  who  had  asserted  that  a  great  river 


IG 


a 


#H3 


i- 


} 


•Miiptiod  itself  into  tlial  bay,  Ilecela  liavingeven  given  a  name 
to  the  river,  (St.  Uoc,)  and  the  entrance  having  been  desig- 
nated by  his  own  name,  (Ensennada  de  Heceta,)  whilst  the 
two  English  navigators,  Meares  and  Vanconver,  had  both 
concluded  that  no  large  river  had  its  mouth  there  j  that,  in  the 
year  1805,  Lewis  and  Clarke  were  the  first  who  descended  the 
river  Columbia,  from  one  of  its  principal  western  sources  to  its 
mouth ;  that  the  first  actual  occupancy  in  that  quarter  was  by 
Mr.  Astor's  company,  on  the  24th  of  March,  1811,  inough 
Mr.  Thompson,  the  astronomer  of  the  British  Northwest  Com- 
pany, who  arrived  at  Astoria  on  the  15th  of  July,  may  have 
wintered  on  or  near  some  northern  source  of  the  river  in  52 
degrees  north  latitude  ;  that  amongst  the  factories  established 
by  that  American  company,  one  was  situated  at  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Okanagan  with  the  Columbia,  in  about  49  degrees 
of  latitude;  that  the  42d  degree  is  the  boundary,  west  of  the 
Stony  Mountains,  established  by  treaty  between  Spain,  now 
Mexico,  and  the  United  States;  that  the  49th  degree  is  like- 
wise the  boundary,  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Stony 
Mountains,  established  by  treaty  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States;  and  that  therefore  the  right  of  the  United 
States,  which  may  be  derived  from  the  principle  of  contiguity 
or  continuity,  embraces  the  territory  west  of  the  Stony  Moun- 
tains contained  between  the  42d  and  49th  degrees  of  latitude. 

Omitting  other  considerations  which  apply  principally  to  the 
territory  north  of  Fuca  Straits,  where  the  claims  of  both  par- 
ties are  almost  exclusively  derived  from  their  respective  dis- 
coveries, including  those  of  Spain,  it  may  be  rationally  inferred 
from  the  preceding  enumeration  that  there  remain  various 
questions  which  must  be  considered  by  Great  Britain  as  being 
still  doubtful  and  debatable,  atjd  that  she  may  therefore,  with- 
out any  abandonment  of  positive  rights,  recede  from  the  ex- 
treme pretensions  which  she  has  advanced  in  the  discussion 
respecting  a  division  of  the  territory.  But,  although  conjec- 
tures may  be  formed,  and  the  course  pursued  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  may  have  an  influence  on  that 
which  Great  Britain  will  adopt,  it  does  not -belong  to  me  to  dis- 
cuss what  that  Gove|nment  may  or  will  do.  This  paper  is  in- 
tended for  the  American,  and  not  for  the  English  public  ;  and 
my  attention  has  been  principally  directed  to  those  points  which 
may  be  considered  by  the  United  States  as  doubtful  and  de- 
batable. 

It  was  expressly  stipulated  that  nothing  contained  in  the 
conventions  of  1818  and  182  7  should  be  construed  to  impair, 
or  in  any  manner  affect,  the  claims  which  either  of  the  con- 


^■■>miiimpi^,ii.i,n.i  ■ 


n  a  name 
en  desig- 
vhilsl  the 
had  botli 
mt,  in  tlie 
ended  the 
rces  to  iis 
sr  was  by 
1,  tnough 
vest  Corn- 
may  have 
irer  ill  .52 
stablished 
he  conflu- 
19  degrees 
est  of  the 
pain,  now 
!e  is  like- 
the  Stony 
-itain  and 
he  United 
contiguity 
ny  Moun- 
f  latitude, 
illy  to  the 
both  par- 
sctive  dis- 
ly  interred 
n  various 
n  as  being 
fore,  with- 
n  the  ex- 
discussion 
gh  conjec- 
3  Govern- 
;e  on  that 
me  to  dis- 
aper  is  in- 
iblic ;  and 
ints  which 
ul  and  de- 
led in  the 
to  impair, 
f  the  con- 


17 

tracting  parties  may  have  to  any  part  of  the  countrv  westward 
ot  the  Stony  or  Rocky  Mountains.  After  the  most  cool  and 
impartial  investigation  of  which  I  am  capable,  I  have  not  been 
ab  e  to  perceive  any  claim  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  or  de- 
batable  question,  respecting  the  territory  south  of  Fuca's 
straits,  but  tue  species  of  occupancy  by  the  British  Fur  com- 
panies between  the  year  1813  and  October  20, 1818  ;  and  this 
must  be  considered  m  connexion  with  the  restoration  of  "all 
territory,  places,  and  possessions,  whatsoever,  taken  by  either 

tCl  1? PK    !  °'lp  "■  u"'L"S  ^^"^  '^"'"  P^°^'d«d  for  by  the 
reaiy  ot  Ghent      To  this  branch  of  the  subject  belongs  also 
the  question  whether  the  establishment  of  trading  factories 
with  Indians  may  eventually  give  a  right  to  sovereignty.    My 
own  opinion  was  expressed  in  the  American  counter-statement 
ol  the  case,  dated  1.9th  December,  1826  :    «  It  is  believed  that 
mere  factories,  established  solely  for  the  purpose  of  traffick- 
ing  with  the  natives,  and  without  any  view  to  cultivation 
and  permanent  settlement,  cannot,  of  themselves,  and  unsup- 
ported  by  any  other  consideration,  give  any  better  title  to  do- 
minion  and  absolute  sovereignty  than  similar  establishments 
made  in  a  civilized  country."     However  true  this  may  be  in 
an  abstract  proposition,  it  must  be  admitted  that,  practicallv 
the  modest  British  factory  at  Calcutta  has  gradually  grown  up 
into  absolute  and  undisputed  sovereignty  over  a  population  of 
eighty  millions  of  people. 

The  questions  which,  as  it  appears  to  me,  may  be  allowed 
by  the  United  States  to  be  debatable,  and  therefore  to  make  it 
questionable  whether  they  have  a  complete  right  to  the  whole 
Oregon  territory,  are  : 

1st.  The  Nootka  convention,  which  applies  to  the  whole 
and  which,  though  not  of  primary  importance,  is  nevertheless 
a  lac  ,  and  the  inferences  drawn  from  it  a  matter  of  argument 
2dly.  The  discovery  of  the  Straits  of  Fuca. 
3dly.  North  of  those  straits;  along  the  sea  shores,  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  British  contrasted  with  those  of  the  American 
and  Spanish  navigators;  in  the  interior,  the  question  whether 
the  discovery  of  the  mouth  and  the  navigation  of  one  of  its 
principal  branches,  from  its  source  o  the  mouth  of  the  river 
implies  without  exception  a  complete  right  to  the  whole  coun' 
try  drained  by  all  the  tributaries  of  such  river;  and  also  the 
British  claim  to  the  whole  territory  drained  by  Frazer's  river- 
its  sources  having  been  discovered  in  1792  by  Sir  Alexander 
Mackenzie,  factories  having  been  established  upon  it  by  the 
British  as  early  as  the  year  1806,  and  the  whole  river  thence 
to  Its  mouth  having  been  for  a  number  of  years  exclusively 
navigated  by  British  subjects.  ' 

3 


18 


It  appears  to  me  sufficient  generally  to  suggest  the  contro- 
verted points.  That  which  relates  to  Fuca's  Straits  is  the  most 
important,  and  deserves  particular  consideration. 

If  Fuca's  voyage  in  1598  could  be  proved  to  be  an  authentic 
document,  this  would  settle  at  once  the  question  in  favor  of  the 
United  States ;  but  the  voyage  was  denied  in  the  introduction 
to  the  voyage  of  the  Sutil  and  Mexicano.    This  was  an  official 
document,  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment, and  intended  to  vindicate  Spain  against  the  charges 
that  she  had  contributed  nothing  to  the  advancement  of  ge- 
ography in  those  quarters.    This  negative  evidence  was  con- 
firmed by  Humboldt,  who  says  that  no  trace  of  such  voyage 
can  bo  found  in  the  archives  of  Mexico.    Unwilling  to  adduce 
any  doubtful  fact,  I  abstained  from  alluding  to  it  in  the  state- 
ment of  the  American  case  in  1826.    Later  researches  show 
that,  although  recorded  evidences  remain  of  the  voyages  of 
Gali  from  Macao  to  Acapulco  in  1584,  of  the  Santa  Anna  (on 
board  of  which  was,  as  he  says,  Fuca  himself)  from  Manilla  to 
the  coast  of  California,  where  she  was  captured  in  1587  by 
Cavendish,  and  of  Vizcaino  in  1602-1603,  and  even  of  Maldo- 
nado's  fictitious  voyage  in  1588,  yet  no  trace  has  been  found 
in  Spain  or  Mexico  of  Fuca's,  or  any  other  similar  voyage,  in 
1692,  or  thereabout. 

On  reading  with  attention  the  brief  account  published  by 
Purchas,  I  will  say  that  the  voyage  itself  has  much  internal 
evidence  of  its  truth,  but  that  the  inference  or  conclusion  throws 
much  discredit  on  the  whole.  The  only  known  account  of  the 
voyage  is  that  given  verbally  at  Venice  in  1596,  by  Fuca,  a 
Greek  pilot,  to  Mr.  Lock,  a  respectable  English  merchant,  who 
transmitted  it  to  Purchas. 

Fuca  says  that  he  had  been  sent  by  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico 
to  discover  the  straits  of  Anian  and  the  passage  thereof  into  the 
sea,  which  they  called  the  North  Sea,  which  is  our  Northwest 
Sea ;  that  between  47  and  48  degrees  of  latitude  he  entered 
into  a  broad  inlet,  through  which  he  sailed  more  than  twenty 
days ;  and,  being  then  come  into  the  No?th  Sea  already,  and 
not  being  sufficiently  armed,  he  returned  again  to  Acapulco. 
He  offered  then  to  Mr.  Lock  to  go  into  England  and  serve  Her 
Majesty  in  a  voyage  for  the  discovery  perfectly  of  the  North- 
west passage  into  the  South  Sea.  If  it  be  granted  that  the  inlet 
through  which  he  had  sailed  was  really  the  same  as  the  straits 
which  now  bear  his  name,  that  sea  into  which  he  emerged,  and 
which  he  says  to  be  our  Northwest  Sea,  must  have  been  that 
which  is  now  called  Queen  Charlotte's  Sound,  north  of  Quadra 
and  Vancouver's  Island,  in  about  51  degrees  of  latitude.  Our 
Northwest  Sea  was  that  which  washes  the  shores  of  Newfound- 


J '  '■  .  ,,^    .  .1^  ...-.IJ^-i  -  nhj-Vt  I -■■njia^- 


19 


3  contro- 
the  most 

Luthentic 
or  of  the 
oductiou 
in  otiicial 
ish  Gov- 
i  charges 
nt  of  ge- 
was  con- 
h  voyage 

0  adduce 
the  state- 
hes  show 
oyages  of 
Anna  (on 
Manilla  to 

1  1587  by 
of  Maldo- 
een  found 
royage,  in 

Wished  by 
;h  internal 
ion  throws 
unt  of  the 
ly  Fuca,  a 
hant,who 

»f  Mexico 
of  into  the 
Norihwest 
le  entered 
an  twenty 
eady, and 
Acapulco . 
serve  Her 
le  North- 
It  the  inlet 
the  straits 
erged,and 

been  that 
of  Quadra 
ude.    Our 

ewfound- 


land  and  Labrador,  then  universally  known  as  fur  north  as  the 
vicinity  of  the  60th  degree  of  latitude.  Hudson's  Straits  had 
not  yet  been  discovered,  and  the  discovery  of  Davis's  Straits 
might  not  be  known  to  Fuca.  But  no  navigator  at  that  time, 
who.  like  lie,  had  sailed  across  both  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pa- 
cific Oceans,  could  be  ignorant  that  the  northern  extremity  of 
Newfoundland,  which  lies  nearly  in  the  same  latitude  as  the 
northern  entrance  of  Fuca's  Straits,  is  situated  sixty  or  seventy 
degrees  of  longitude  east  of  that  entrance.  The  only  way  to 
reconcile  the  account  with  itself  is,  to  suppose  that  Fuca  be- 
lieved that  the  continent  of  America  did  not,  on  the  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  extend  further  nort'.i  than  about  the  60th  degree,  and 
was  bounded  northwardly  by  an  open  sea,  which  extended  as 
far  west  as  the  northern  extremity  of  the  inlet  through  which 
he  had  sailed.  It  is  true  nevertheless  that,  between  the  years 
1774  and  1792,  there  was  a  prevailing  opinion  amongst  the 
navigators  that  Fuca  had  actually  discovered  an  inlet  leading 
towards  the  Atlantic.  Prior  to  the  year  1787  they  were  en- 
gaged in  seeking  for  it,  and  the  Spaniards  had  for  that  purpose 
explored  in  vain  the  seacoast  lyitig  south  of  the  4Sth  degree  ; 
for  it  is  well  known  that  Fuca's  entrance  lies  between  the  48th 
and  49th,  and  not  between  the  47th  and  48th  degrees  of  lati- 
tude, as  he  had  announced. 

The  modern  discovery  of  that  inlet  is  due  to  Captain  Barclay, 
an  Englishman,  commanding  the  Imperial  Eagle,  a  vessel 
owned  by  British  merchants,  but  which  was  equipped  at  and 
took  its  departure  from  Ostend,  and  which  sailed  under  the  da"^ 
of  the  Austrian  East  India  Company.  The  British  Goverii- 
meiit,  which  has  oujected  to  the  American  claim  derived  from 
Captain  Gray's  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  Columbia, 
on  the  ground  that  he  was  a  private  individual,  and  that  his 
vessel  was  not  a  public  ship,  cannot  certainly  claim  any  thing 
in  virtue  of  a  discovery  by  a  private  Englishman,  sailing  under 
Austrian  colors.  In  that  case,  and  rejecting  Fuca's  voyage, 
neither  the  United  States  nor  England  can  lay  any  claim  on 
account  of  the  discovery  of  the  straits. 

Subsequently,  the  Englishman,  Meares,  sailing  under  the 
Portuguese  fla^,  penetrated,  in  1788,  about  ten  miles  into  the 
inlet,  and  the  American,  Gray,  in  1789,  about  fifty  miles.  The 
pretended  voyage  of  the  sloop  Washington  throughout  the 
straits,  under  the  command  of  either  Gray  or  Kendrick,  has  no 
other  foundation  than  an  assertion  of  Meares,  on  which  no 
reliance  can  be  placed. 

In  the  year  1790  (1791  according  to  Vancouver)  the  Span- 
iards Elisa  and  Quimper  explored  the  straits  more  than  one 
hundred  miles,  discovering  the  Port  Discovery,  the  entrance  of 


Tg.. 


20 

Admiralty  Inlet,  the  Deception  Passage,  and  the  Canal  de  llaro. 
In  1792  Vancouver  explored  and  surveyed  the  straits  through- 
out, together  with  their  various  bays  and  harbors.  Even  there 
he  had  been  preceded  in  part  by  the  Sutil  and  Mexicano ;  and 
he  expresses  his  regret  that  they  had  advanced  before  him  as 
far  as  the  Canal  del  Rosario. 

Under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  the  United  States  must  admit  that  the  discovery  of  the 
straits,  and  the  various  inferences  which  may  be  drawn  from 
it,  are  doubtful  and  debatable  questions. 

That  which  relates  to  a  presumed  agreement  of  Commission- 
ers appointed  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  by  which  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  Canada  was,  from  a  certain  point  north  of 
Lake  Superior,  declared  to  extend  westwardly  along  the  49th 
parallel  of  latitude,  does  not  appear  to  be  definitively  settled. 
As  this  had  been  assumed,  many  years  before,  as  a  positive 
fact,  and  had  never  been  contradicted,  I  also  assumed  it  as 
such,  and  did  not  thoroughly  investigate  the  subject.  Yet  I 
had  before  me  at  least  one  map,  (name  of  publisher  not  recol- 
lected,) of  which  I  have  a  vivid  recollection,  on  which  the  di- 
viding lines  were  distinctly  marked  and  expressly  designated, 
as  being  in  conformity  with  the  agreement  of  the  Commission- 
ers under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  The  evidence  against  the  fact, 
though  in  some  respects  strong,  is  purely  negative.  The  line, 
according  to  the  map,  extended  from  a  certain  point  near  the 
source  of  the  river  Saguenay,  in  a  westerly  direction,  to  another 
designated  point  on  another  river  emptying  either  into  the  St. 
Lawrence  or  James's  Bay  ;  and  there  were,  in  that  way,  four 
or  five  lines  following  each  other,  all  tending  westwardly,  but 
with  different  inclinations  northwardly  or  southwardly,  and 
all  extending,  from  some  apparently  known  point  on  a  desig- 
nated river,  to  another  similar  point  on  another  river;  the  rivers 
themselves  emptying  themselves,  some  into  the  river  St.  Law- 
rence and  others  into  James's  Bay  or  Hudson's  Bay,  until, 
from  a  certain  point  lying  north  of  Lake  Superior,  the  line  was 
declared  to  extend  along  the  49th  degree  of  latitude,  as  above 
stated.  It  was  with  that  map  before  me  that  the  following 
paragraph  was  inserted  in  the  American  statement  of  Decem- 
ber. 1S26: 

"The  limiU  between  the  poggesmons  of  Great  Britain  in  North  America,  and 
those  of  France  in  the  game  quarter,  namely,  Canada  and  Louisiana,  were  deter- 
rained  by  Commiggioners  appointed  in  pursuance  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  From 
the  coagt  of  Labrador  to  a  certain  point  north  of  Lake  Superior  those  limits  were  fixed 
according  to  certain  metes  and  bounds,  and  from  that  point  the  line  of  demarcation 
was  agreed  to  extend  indefinitely  due  west,  along  the  forty-ninth  pairllel  of  north 
latitude.  It  was  in  conformhy  with  that  arrangement  that  the  United  States  did 
claim  that  parallel  as  the  northern  boundary  of  Louisiana.  It  has  been  accordingly 
thus  settled,  as  far  as  the  Stony  Mountains,  by  the  convention  of  1818  between  the 


,r.f-ftif^».-,.,i.inrtj%*VN>^*-'->.*^^.^L^'A!j;j -1"^ 


.ll..I»(l.-"?  >*^l  ■■.WW. 


21 


le  Haro. 
hrongh- 
eii  there 
no  -,  and 
him  as 

doubted 
y  ot  the 
wn  from 

imission- 
le  north- 
north  of 
the  49th 
y  settled. 
.  positive 
led  it  as 
.     Yet  I 
lot  recol- 
:h  the  di- 
isignated, 
iimission- 
t  the  fact, 
The  hne, 
near  the 
0  another 
to  the  St. 
way,  four 
irdly,  but 
dly,  and 

a  desig- 

le  rivers 
St.  Law- 
until, 

ine  was 
as  above 
bllowing 

Decem- 


Vmerica,  and 

were  deter- 

!cht.     From 

U  were  fixed 

demarcation 

i|el  of  north 

ed  States  did 

accordingly 

between  the 


ay 


United  8tat<«ii  nnd  Great  Britain;  and  no  adequate  reawn  can  lie  gi*en  why  Ihs 
rame  boundary  ihould  not  be  continued  aa  for  us  the  claimi  of  the  United  State*  do 
extend,  thnt  in  to  Ray,  bh  far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean. " 

It  appears  very  extraordinary  that  any  geographer  or  map- 
maker  should  have  invented  a  dividing  line,  with  such  specific 
details,  without  having  sufficient  grounds  for  believing  that  it 
had  bpen  I'lus  determined  by  the  Commissioners  under  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht.  It  is  also  believed  that  Douglass's  Summitry 
(not  at  this  moment  within  my  reach)  adverts  to  the  portion 
of  the  line  from  the  coa.st  of  Labrador  to  the  Snguenay.  Fi- 
nally, the  allusion  to  the  49lh  parallel,  as  a  boundary  fixed  in 
consequence  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  had  been  repeatedly 
made  in  the  course  of  preceding  negotiations,  as  well  as  in  the 
conferences  of  that  of  ihe  year  1826;  and  there  is  no  apparent 
motive,  if  the  assertion  was  known  by  the  British  negotiators 
not  to  be  founded  in  fact,  why  they  should  not  have  at  once  de- 
nied it.  It  may  be,  however,  thnt,  the  question  having  ceased 
to  be  of  any  interest  to  Great  Britain  since  the  acquisition  of 
Canada,  they  had  not  investigated  the  subject.  It  is  of  some 
importance,  because,  if  authenticated,  the  discussion  would  be 
converted  from  questions  respecting  undefined  claims  into  one 
concerniner  the  construction  of  a  positive  treaty  or  convention. 

It  is  sufficiently  clear  that,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  an  amicable  division  of  the  territory,  if  at  all  practicable, 
must  be  founded  in  a  great  degree  on  expediency.  This  of 
course  must  be  left  to  the  wisdom  of  the  two  Governments. 
The  only  natural,  equitable,  and  practicable  line  which  has 
occurred  to  me,  is  one  which,  rtuming  through  the  middle  of 
Fuca's  Strait^,,  from  its  entrance  to  a  point  on  the  main  situated 
south  of  the  mouth  of  Frazer's  river,  should  leave  to  the  United 
States  all  the  shores  and  harbors  lying  south,  and  to  Great 
Britain  all  those  north  of  that  line,  including  the  whole  of 
Quadra  and  Vancouver's  Island.  It  would  be  through  Fuca's 
Straits  a  nearly  easterly  line,  along  the  parallel  of  about  48J 
degrees,  leaving  to  England  the  most  valuable  and  permanent 
portion  of  the  fur  trade,  dividing  the  seacoast  as  nearly  as 
possible  mto  two  equal  parts,  and  the  ports  in  the  most  equi- 
table manner.  To  leave  Admiralty  Inlet  and  its  Sounds  to 
Great  Britain,  would  give  her  a  possession  in  the  heart  of  the 
American  portion  of  the  territory.  Whether,  from  the  point 
where  the  line  would  strike  tlie  main,  it  should  be  continued 
along  the  same  parallel,  or  run  along  the  49th,  is  a  matter  of 
secondary  importance. 

If  such  division  should  take  place,  the  right  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  country  situated  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Co- 
lumbia to  the  navigation  of  that  river  to  its  mouth,  is  founded 
on  natural  law;  and  the  principle  has  almost  been  recognised 


f 


22 

•8  (lie  public  law  of  Europe.  Limited  to  commercial  purposes, 
it  might  be  admitted,  but  on  the  express  condition  that  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  should  in  the  same  manner,  and 
to  (ho  same  extent,  have  the  right  to  navigate  the  River  St. 
Lawrence. 

But  I  must  say  that,  whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  destinies 
of  the  Oregon  territory,  I  would  fuel  great  regret  in  seeing  it 
in  any  way  divided.  An  amicable  division  appears  to  me 
without  comparison  preferable  to  a  war  for  that  object  between 
the  two  countries.  In  every  other  view  of  the  subject  it  is 
highly  exceptionable.  Without  adverting  for  the  present  to 
considerations  of  a  higher  nature,  it  may  be  suthcient  here  to 
observe,  that  the  conversion  of  the  northern  part  of  the  terri- 
tory into  a  British  colony  would  in  its  effects  make  the  arrange- 
ment very  unequal.  The  Unitud  States  are  forbidden  by  their 
Constitution  to  give  a  preference  to  the  ports  of  one  State  over 
those  of  another.  The  ports  within  the  portion  of  territory 
allotted  to  the  United  Stales  would  of  course  remain  open  to 
British  vessels  ;  whilst  American  vessels  would  be  excluded 
from  the  ports  of  the  British  colony,  unless  occasionally  ad- 
mitted by  special  acts  depending  on  the  will  of  Great  Britain. 

ALBERT  GALLATIN. 


NO.  III. 


Beyond  the  naked  assertion  of  an  absolute  right  to  the  whole 
territory,  so  little  hi  the  shape  of  argument  has  been  adduced, 
and  so  much  warmth  has  been  exhibited  in  the  discussion  of 
the  subject,  that  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  question  has  now 
become,  on  both  sides,  one  of  feeling  rather  than  of  right.  This, 
in  America,  grows  out  of  the  fact  that,  in  this  contest  with  a 
European  nation,  tho  contested  territory  is  in  America,  and  not 
in  Europe.  It  is  identic  with  the  premature  official  annuncia- 
tion that  the  United  States  could  not  acquiesce  in  the  establish- 
ment of  any  new  colony  in  North  America  by  any  European 
nation.  This  sentiment  was  already  general  at  the  time  when 
it  was  first  publicly  declared;  and  now  that  it  has  been  almost 
universally  avowed,  there  can  be  no  imjjropriety  in  any  pri- 
vate citizen  to  say,  as  I  now  do,  that  I  share  in  that  feeling  to 
its  full  extent.  For  the  Americans,  Oregon  is  or  will  be  home ; 
for  England,  it  is  but  an  outpost,  which  may  afford  means  of 
annoyance,  rather  than  be  a  source  of  real  power.    In  Amer- 


33 

ica,  all  have  tlie  samo  uliimato  object  in  viow  ;  wo  diH'er  only 
with  respect  to  the  means  by  which  it  may  ho  attained. 

Two  circumstances  have  had  a  tendency  to  nourish  and  ex- 
cite these  feelings.  The  British  fur  companies,  from  their  po- 
sition, from  their  monopohainx  character,  from  their  natural 
influence  upon  the  Indian.s,  and  from  that,  much  greater  than 
might  have  been  expected,  which  they  have  constantly  had 
upon  the  British  Government  in  its  negotiations  with  the  United 
States,  have  for  sixty  years  been  a  perpetual  source  of  annoy- 
ance and  collisions.  The  vested  interests  of  thn  Hudson  Buy 
Company  are  at  this  moment  the  greatest  obstacle  to  an  ami- 
cable arrangement.  It  is  at  the  same  time  due  to  iustice  to 
say  that,  as  far  as  is  known,  that  company  has  acted  in  Oregon 
in  conformity  wiih  the  terms  of  the  convention,  and  that  its 
officers  have  uniformly  treated  the  Americans,  whether  visiters 
or  emigrants,  not  only  courteously,  but  with  great  kindness. 

If  the  British  colonies  on  the  continent  of  America  were  an 
independent  country,  or  were  thoy  [)laced  in  their  commercial 
relations,  at  least  with  the  United  States,  on  the  same  footing 
as  the  British  possessions  in  Europe,  these  relations  would 
be  regulated  by  the  reciprocal  interests  anH  wants  of  the  par- 
lies  immediately  concerned.  Great  Britain  has  an  undoubted 
right  to  persist  in  her  colonial  policy,  but  the  result  has  been 
extremely  vexatious,  and  to  the  United  States  injuriotts.  All 
this  is  true;  but  feelings  do  not  confer  a  right,  and  the  indulgence 
of  excited  feelings  is  neither  virtue  nor  wisdom. 

The  Western  States  have  no  greater  apparent  immediate  in- 
terest in  the  acquisition  of  Oregon  than  the  States  bordering  on 
the  Atlantic.     These  stand  in  greater  need  of  an  outlet  for  their 
surplus  emigrating  population,  and  to  them  exclusively  will 
for  the  present  the  benefit  accrue  of  ports  on  the  Pacific  for  the 
protection  of  the  numerous  American  ships  employed  in  the 
fisheries  and  commerce  of  that  Ocean.     It  is  true,  that  in  case 
of  war,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  States  will  not,  if  a 
naval  superiority  shall  be  obtained  on  the  Upper  Lakes,  feel 
those  immediate  calamities  of  war  to  which  the  country  along 
the  sea  shore  is  necessarily  exposed;  but  no  section  of  the  United 
States  will  be  more  deeply  affected  by  the  impossibility  of  find- 
ing, during  the  war,  a  market  for  the  immense  surplus  of  its 
agricultural  products.     It  must  also  be  remembered  that  a  di- 
rect  tax  has  heretofore  been  found  more  productive  than  the 
aggregate  of  all  the  other  internal  taxes  levied  by  the  General 
Government;  that,  in  case  of  war,  it  must  necessarily  be  im- 
posed ;  and  that,  as  it  must,  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution, 
be  levied  in  proportion  to  the  respective  population  of  the  sev- 


r- 


94 


eral  States,  it  will  be  much  more  oppressive  on  those  which 
have  not  yet  accumulated  a  large  amount  of  circulating  or 
personal  capital.  The  greater  degree  of  excitement  which 
prevails  in  the  West  is  due  to  other  and  more  powerful  causes 
than  a  regard  for  self-intecest. 

Bordering,  through  the  whole  of  their  northern  frontier,  on 
the  British  possessions,  the  Western  people  have  always  been 
personally  exposed  to  those  annoyances  and  collisions  already 
alluded  to ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  hope  of  getting  rid  of  these 
by  the  conquest  of  Canada  has  somft  influence  upon  their  con- 
duct. Independent  of  this,  the  indomitable  energy  of  this  na- 
tion has  been  and  is  nowhere  displayed  so  forciblv  as  in  the 
new  States  and  settlements.  It  was  necessarilv  directed  to. 
wards  the  acquisition  of  land  and  the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 
In  that  respect  it  has  performed  prodigies.  Three  millions  of 
cultivators  of  the  soil  are  now  found  between  the  Lakes  and 
the  Ohio,  where,  little  more  than  fifty  years  before,  save  only 
three  or  four  half  Indian  French  settlements,  there  was  not  a 
single  white  inhabitant.  Nothing  now  seems  impossible  to 
those  men ;  they  have  not  even  been  sobered  by  fresh  expe- 
rience. Attempting  to  do  at  once,  and  without  an  adequate 
capital,  that  which  should  have  been  delayed  five-and-twenty 
years,  and  might  have  then  been  successfully  accomplished, 
some  of  those  States  have  had  the  mortification  to  find  them- 
selves unable  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  debt  they  had  con- 
tracted, and  obliged  to  try  to  compound  with  their  creditors. 
Nevertheless,  undiminished  activity  and  locomotion  are  still 
the  ruling  principles.  The  Western  people  leap  over  time  and 
distance  ;  ahead  they  must  go ;  it  is  their  mission.  May  God 
speed  them,  and  may  they  thus  quietly  take  possession  of  the 
entire  contested  territory  ! 

All  this  was  as  well  known  to  the  British  Government  as  to 
ourselves.  A  public  and  official  declaration  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States  was  unnecessary,  and  at  least  premature. 
Mr.  Rush's  correspondence  of  1824  bears  witness  of  its  unfor- 
tunate effect  on  the  negotiations  of  that  year.  These  feelings 
had  gradually  subsided.  But, whatever  maybe  the  cause,  the 
fact  that  an  extraordinary  excitement  on  this  subject  has  mani- 
fested itself,  and  does  now  exist  on  both  sides,  cannot  be  denied. 
Time  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  that  this  should  subside. 
Any  precipitate  step  now  taken  by  either  Government  would 
be  attended  with  the  most  fatal  consequences.  That  which,  if 
done  some  years  ago,  might  have  been  harmless,  would  now 
be  highly  dangerous,  and  should  at  least  be  postponed  for  the 
present. 

The  first  incipient  step  recommended  by  the  Executive  is  to 


i.  ...jtlji^^thlijHjBI^Mft*!.  ■ 


W'i'fMe*.*-  <^.  ^^•?W»"* 


•n  those  which 

circulating  or 

itenient  which 

owerful  causes 

ern  frontier,  on 
re  always  been 
Uisions  already 
ing  rid  of  these 
upon  their  con- 
jrgy  of  this  na- 
cibly  as  in  the 
ilv  directed  to- 
on  of  the  soil, 
iree  millions  of 
the  Lakes  and 
3fore,  save  only 
here  was  not  a 
s  impossible  to 
by  fresh  expe- 
iit  an  adequate 
five-and-twenty 
J  accomplished, 
m  to  find  them- 
they  had  con- 
their  creditors, 
motion  are  still 
p  over  time  and 
ion.     May  God 
)ssession  of  the 

vernment  as  to 
the  President 

east  premature. 

ess  of  its  unfor- 

These  feelings 
the  cause,  the 

)ject  has  mani- 

nnot  be  denied. 

should  subside. 

ernment  would 
That  which,  if 

ess,  would  now 

stponed  for  the 

Executive  is  to 


ib 


give  the  notice  that  tho  oonveutiou  of  18<J7  shall  expire  at  the 
t^nd  of  one  year.  This  measure,  at  this  time,  and  connected 
with  tiie  avowed  intention  of  assuming  exclusive  sovereignty 
over  the  whole  territory,  becomes  a  question  of  peace  or  war. 

The  conventions  of  1818  and  1827,  whilst  reserving  the 
rights  of  both  parties,  allowed  the  freedom  of  trade  and  Navi- 
gation throughout  the  whole  territory  to  remain  common  to 
both ;  and  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  both  Powers  were  per- 
mitted to  occupy  any  part  of  it.  The  inconveniences  of  that 
temporary  arrangement  were  well  understood  at  the  time.  The 
British  fur  companies  had  established  factories  on  the  banks 
and  even  south  of  the  river  Columbia,  within  the  limits  of  that 
portion  of  the  cauntry  which  llie  United  States  had,  whenever 
the  subject  was  discussed,  claimed  as  belonging  exclusively 
to  them.  The  conditions  of  the  agreement  were  nominally 
reciprocal ;  but,  though  they  did  not  give,  yet  they  did  in  fact 
leave  the  British  company  in  the  exclusive  possession  of  the 
fur  trade.  This  could  not  be  prevented  otherwise  than  by  re- 
sorting to  actual  force :  the  United  States  were  not  then  either 
ready  or  disposed  to  run  the  risks  of  a  war  for  that  object;  and 
it  was  thought  more  eligible  that  the  British  traders  should  re- 
main on  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  a  com- 
pact, and  with  their  consent,  than  in  defiance  of  their  authority. 
It  is  but  very  lately  that  the  Americans  have  begun  to  migrate 
to  that  remote  country  :  a  greater  ninnbcr  will  certainly  follow ; 
and  they  have  tmder  the  conveiiiion  a  perfect  right  to  occupy 
and  make  settlements  in  any  [)art  of  the  territory  they  may 
think  proper,  with  th«  solu  exception  of  the  spots  actually  oc- 
cupied by  the  British  company. 

What  is  then  the  object  in  view,  in  giving  the  notice  at  this 
time  ?  This  has  been  declared  withoat  reserve  by  the  Presi- 
dent :  "  At  the  end  of  the  year's  notice,  should  Congress  think 
'  it  proper  to  make  provision  for  giving  that  notice,  we  shall 
'  have  reached  a  period  when  the  national  rights  in  Oregon 

*  nnist  eiiher  be  abandoned  or  firmly  maintained.  That  thoy 
'  cannot  be  abjuidoned  without  a  sacrifice  of  botii  national 

*  honor  and  iiitcre  as,  is  too  clear  to  admit  of  doubt."  And  it 
must  be  recnllectc^cl  iliat  this  candid  avowal  has  been  accompa- 
nied by  the  declaration  that  "our  title  to  tlie  whole  of  Oregon 
'  territory  had  been  asserted  and,  as  was  believed,  maintained 

*  by  irrefitgable  facts  and  arguments."  Nothing  can  be  more 
plain  and  explicit.  The  exclusive  right  of  the  United  States  to 
absolute  sovereignty  over  the  whole  territory  must  be  asserted 
and  maintained. 

It  niHy  not  be  necessary  for  that  purpose  to  drive  away  the 
British  fur  company,  nor  to  prevent  the  migration  mto  Oregon 
of  British  cn.igraiits  coming  from  the  British  dominions.    The 
4 


26 


cotiipauy  may,  li'  deemed  expedient,  be  permitted  to  trade  as 
heretofore  with  the  Indians.  British  emigrants  may  be  treated 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  other  sixty  or  eighty  thousand  who 
already  arrive  yearly  in  the  United  States.  They  may  at  their 
option  be  naturalized,  or  remain  ou  the  same  fooiing  as  for- 
eigners in  other  parts  of  the  Union.  In  this  case  they  will 
enjoy  no  pohtical  rights;  they  will  not  be  permitted  to  own 
American  vessels  and  to  sail  under  the  American  flagi  the 
permission  to  own  real  property  seems,  so  long  as  Oregon  re- 
mains a  territory,  to  depend  ou  the  will  of  Congress.  Thus  far 
collision  may  be  avoided. 

But  no  foreign  jurisdiction  can  be  permitted,  from  the  mo- 
ment when  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  over  the  whole 
territory  shall  be  asserted  and  maintained.  To  this,  all  those 
wlw  reside  in  the  territory  must  submit.  After  having  taken 
the  decisive  step  of  giving  tlie  notice,  the  United  States  cannot, 
as  the  President  justly  states,  abandon  the  right  of  sovereignty 
without  a  sacrifice  of  national  honor. 

It  had  been  expressly  agreed  by  the  convention,  that  nothing 
contained  in  it  should  affect  the  claims  of  either  party  to  the 
territory.  The  all-important  question  of  sovereignty  remained 
therefore  ii;  abeyance.  Negotiations  for  a  division  of  the  ter- 
ritory have  failed :  the  question  of  sovereignty  remains  unde- 
cided, as  it  was  prior  to  the  convention.  If  the  United  States 
exercise  the  reserved  right  to  put  an  end  to  the  convention,  and 
if,  from  the  time  when  it  shall  have  expired,  they  peremptorily 
assume  the  right  of  sovereignty  over  the  whole,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  Great  Britain  will  at  once  resist.  She  will  adhere 
to  the  principle  she  had  asserted  prior  to  the  Nootka  conven- 
tion, and  has  ever  since  maintained,  that  actual  occupancy  can 
alone  give  a  right  to  the  country.  She  ill  not  permit  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  to  be  extended  over  her  siib- 
_<ects:  she  will  oppose  the  removal,  arrest,  or  exercise  of  any 
o;her  legal  process,  against  her  justices  of  the  peace,  against 
any  other  officers  who  directly  or  indirectly  act  under  her 
authority,  against  any  of  her  subjects;  and  she  will  continue 
to  exercise  her  jurisdiction  over  all  of  them  throughout  the 
whole  territory.  Whatever  either  Power  asserts  must  be  main- 
tained :  military  occupation  and  war  must  necessarily  ensue. 

A  portion  of  the  people,  both  in  the  West  and  elsewhere,  see 
clearly  that  such  nmst  be  the  consequence  of  giving  the  no- 
tice. Such  men  openly  avow  their  opinions,  prefer  war  to  a 
longer  continuation  of  the  present  state  of  things,  are  ready  to 
meet  all  the  dangers  and  calamities  of  the  impending  conflict, 
and  to  adopt  at  once  all  the  measures  which  may  ensure  suc- 
cess With  them,  the  dicicussiou  brings  at  once  the  question  to 
its  true  issue  :    Is  war  necessary  for  the  object  they  have  m 


'T-' 


I    J      tl^|M||l 


27 


0  trade  as 
be  treated 
sand  who 
ly  at  their 
ing  as  for- 
!  they  wU! 
3d  to  own 

flag,  the 
Oregon  re- 
1.  Thus  far 

>m  the  mo- 
r  the  whole 
8,  all  those 
ving  taken 
ites  cannot, 
lovereignty 

lat  nothing 
)arty  to  the 
y  remained 

1  of  the  ter- 
nains  unde- 
uiled  States 
rention,  and 
eremptorily 
t  cannot  be 
will  adhere 
tka  conven- 
upancy  can 

)ermit  the 
rer  her  sn.b- 
cise  of  any 
ace,  against 

under  her 
continue 
)iighout  the 
1st  be  main- 

y  ensue, 
ewhere,  see 
ing  the  no- 
er  war  to  a 

re  ready  to 
ing  conflict, 

ensure  suc- 

question  to 

ley  have  in 


view  ?  Or  may  it  not  be  attained  by  peaceable  means  ?  It  is 
a  question  of  war  or  peace,  and  it  is  fairly  laid  before  the 
nation. 

Rut  many  respectable  men  appear  to  entertain  hopes  that 
peace  may  slill  be  preserved  after  the  United  States  shall  have 
assumed,  or  attempted  to  assume,  exclusive  sovereignty.  The 
reverse  appears  to  me  so  clear,  so  obvious,  so  inevitable,  that 
I  really  cannot  understand  on  what  grounds  these  hopes  are 
founded. 

Is  it  thought  that  the  President  will  not,  after  the  assent  of 
Congress  has  been  obtained,  (and  whether  immediately  or  at 
the  end  of  this  session,  is  quite  immaterial,)  give  the  notice 
which  he  has  asked  Congress  to  authorize  ?  Or  is  it  supposed 
that  a  change  in  the  form  which,  in  order  to  avoid  responsi- 
bility, would  give  him  a  discretionary  power,  could  lead  to  a 
diflerent  result, or  be  anything  else  but  a  transfer  by  Congress 
to  the  Executive  of  the  power  to  declare  war  ? 

Can  it  be  presumed  that  when,  after  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  notice,  the  convention  shall  have  been  abrogated,  the 
President  will  not  assert  and  maintain  the  sovereignty  claimed 
by  the  United  States?  1  have  not  the  honor  of  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  him ;  I  respect  in  him  the  First  Magistrate 
of  the  Nation  ;  and  he  is  universally  represented  as  of  irre- 
proachable character,  sincere,  and  patriotic.  Every  citizen  has 
a  right  to  difl!er  with  him  in  opinion :  no  one  has  that  of  sup- 
posing that  he  says  one  thing  and  means  another.  I  feel  an 
intimate  conviction  of  his  entire  sincerity. 

Is  it  possible  that  any  one,  who  does  not  labor  under  a  sin- 
gular illusion,  can  believe  that  England  will  yield  to  threats 
and  defiance  that  which  she  has  refused  to  concede  to  our 
arguments  ?  Reverse  the  case :  Suppose  for  a  moment  that 
Great  Britain  was  the  aggressor,  and  had  given  the  notice ; 
declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that  at  the  expiration  of  the  year 
she  would  assume  exclusive  sovereignty  over  the  whole  coun- 
try, and  oppose  the  exercise  of  any  whatever  by  the  United 
States  :  Is  there  any  American,  even  amongst  those  who  set 
the  least  value  on  the  Oregon  territory,  and  are  most  sincerely 
desirous  of  preserving  peace,  who  would  not  at  once  declare 
tnat  such  pretension  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  was  out- 
rageous, and  must  be  resisted  ? 

It  is  not  certainly  the  interest  of  Great  Britain  to  wage  war 
against  the  United  States,  and  it  may  be  fairly  presumed  that 
the  British  Government  has  no  such  wish.  But  England  is, 
as  well  as  the  United  States,  a  great,  powerful,  sensitive,  and 
proud  nation.  Every  effusion  of  the  British  press  which  dis- 
plays hostility  to  the  United  States,  produces  an  analogous 
sentiment,  and  adds  new  fuel  to  excitement  in  America.     A 


1  ! 


.  I 


I 


-^ 


r^in"VM«gHp>mnw 


* 


28 


moment's  reflection  will  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  inevitable 
effect  of  an  oflensive  and  threatening  act,  emanating  from  our 
Government ;  an  act  which  throws,  in  the  face  of  the  world,  the 
gauntlet  of  defiance  to  Great  Britain.  Her  claims  and  views,  as 
laid  down  in  her  statement  of  December,  1826,  remove  every 
doubt  respecting  the  steps  she  will  take.  "  Great  Britain  claim  i 

*  no  exclusive  sovereigi^'y  over  anyportion  of  that  territory.  Her 

*  present  claim,  not  in  respect  lo  any  part,  but  to  the  whole,  is 

*  limited  to  a  right  ofjoint  occupancy  in  common  with  other  States, 

*  leaving  the -irnt  of  exclusive  dominion  in  abeyance.  *  »  * 
'  The  pretensions  of  Great  Britain  tend  to  the  mere  maintenance 

*  of  her  own  rights,  in  resistance  to  theexclusive  charac/er  of  the 

*  preiensions  of  the  United  S  ates.  »  *  *  *  These  riglits 
'  embrace  the  right  to  navigate  the  waters  of  those  countries, 

*  the  right  to  settle  in  and  over  t:ny  part  of  them.,  and  the  right 

*  freely  to  trade  with  the  inhabitants  and  occupiers  of  the  same. 
'  It  is  fully  admitted  that  the  United  States  possess  the  same 
'  rights.     But  beyond  these  rights,  hey  possess  none.     To  the 

*  interests  and  establishments  which  British  industry  and  enter- 

*  prise  have  created,  Great  Britain  owes  protection.     That 

*  protection  will  be  given,  both  as  regards  settlement  and  free- 

*  dom  of  trade  and  navigiition,  with  every  attention  not  to  in- 

*  fringe  the  co-ordinate  rights  of  the  United  States." 

Thus,  the  United  States  declare  that  they  give  notice  of  the 
abrogation  of  the  convention  with  the  avowed  determination 
of  asserting  their  assumed  right  of  absolute  and  exclusive  sov- 
ereignty over  the  whole  territory  of  Oregon.  And  Great 
Britain  has  explicitly  declared,  that  her  pretensions  were  in 
resistance  to  the  exclusive  character  of  those  of  the  United 
States ;  and  that  protection  will  be  given,  both  as  regards  set- 
tlement and  freedom  of  trade  and  navigation,  to  the  interests 
and  establishments  which  British  industry  and  enterprise  have 
created. 

How  war  can  be  avoided,  if  both  Powers  persist  in  their 
conflicting  determinations,  is  incomprehensible.  Under  such 
circumstances,  negotiation  is  morally  impossible  during  the 
year  following  the  notice.  To  give  thai  notice,  with  the 
avowed  determination  to  assume  exclusive  sovereignty  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  is  a  decisive,  most  probably  an  irretrievable, 
step.  "  After  that  period  the  United  States  cannot  abandon 
'  their  right  of  sovereignty  without  a  sacrifice  of  national 

*  honor." 

The  question  of  sovereignty  has  never  been  decided.  Sim- 
ply lo  give  notice  of  the  abrogation  of  the  convention,  would 
leave  the  question  in  the  same  situation :  it  would  remain  in 
abeyance.  But  when  the  President  has  recommended  that 
the  notice  should  be  given  with  the  avowed  object  of  assum- 


i^M.»Wi<ea,<--*^g^.».ifa-3»y;.'>r^ 


^.^j^jffWfcfct*^ 


mg  exclusive  sovereignty,  an  act  of  Congress,  in  compliance 
with  his  recommendation,  necessarily  implies  an  approbation 
of  the  object  for  which  it  is  given.  If  the  notice  should  be 
given,  the  only  way  to  avoid  that  implication  and  its  fatal  con- 
sequences IS,  to  declare,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  sovereignty 
shall  not  be  assumed.  But,  then,  why  give  the  notice  at  all  ? 
A  postponement  is  far  preferable,  unless  some  other  advantage 
shall  be  obtained  by  the  abrogation  o(  the  convention.  This 
must  be  examined;  and  it  is  necessary  to  inquire,  whether  any 
and  what  measures  may  be  adopted,  without  any  violation  of 
the  convention,  that  will  preserve  the  rights  and  strenelhen 
the  po.siiion  of  the  United  States. 


NO.  IV. 

The  acts  which  the  Government  of  tlie  United  States  may 
do,  in  conformity  with  the  convention,  embrace  two  objects : 
the  measures  applicable  to  the  territory  within  their  acknow- 
ledged limits  which  may  facilitate  and  promote  migration;  and 
those  which  are  necessary  for  the  protection  of  their  citizens 
residing  in  the  Oregon  territory. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that,  although  the  convention  has 
now  been  in  force  twenty-seven  years,  Congress  has  actually 
done  nothing  with  respect  to  either  of  those  objects.     Enter- 
prising individuals  have,  without  any  aid  or  encouragement 
by  Government,  opened  a  wagon  road  eighteen  hundred  miles 
ni  length,  through  an  arid  or  mountainous  region,  and  made 
settlements  on  or  near  the  shores  of  the  Paci6c,  without  any 
guaranty  for  the  possession  of  the  land  improved  by  their  la- 
bors.    Even  the  attempt  to  carry  on  an  inland  trade  with  the 
Indians  of  Oregon  has  been  defeated  by  the  refusal  to  allow  a 
drawback  of  the  high  duties  imposed  on  the  importation  of 
foreign  goods  absolutely  necessary  for  that  commerce.    Thus 
the  fur  trade  has  remained  engrossed  by  tiie  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany ;  missionaries  were,  till  very  lately,  almost  the  only  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  to  be  found  in  Oregon ;  the  United 
States,  during  the  whole  of  tiiat  period,  have  derived  no  other 
advantage  from  the  convention  tha'n  the  reservation  of  their 
rights,  and  tlie  express  provision  that  these  should  in  no  way 
be  affected  by  the  continuance  of  the  British  factories  in  the 
territory.    And,  now  thai  the  tide  of  migration  has  turned  in 
their  favor,  they  are  suddenly  invited  to  assume  a  hostile  posi- 
tion ;  to  endure  the  calamities  and  to  run  the  chances  and  con- 
sequences of  war,  in  order  to  gain  an  object  wi.ich  natural  and 
irresistible  causes,  if  permitted  to  operate,  cannot  fail  ultimate- 
ly to  attain.    ^,    i.,       r 


t 


«r 


30 


The  measures  applicable  to  the  territory  within  the  ac- 
knowledged limits  have  generally  been  recommended  by  the 
President.  A  very  moderate  appropriation  will  be  sufficient 
to  improve  the  must  difficult  portions  of  the  road ;  and  block- 
houses or  other  temporary  works,  erected  in  proper  places  and 
at  convenient  distances,  and  garrisoned  by  a  portion  of  the  in- 
tended additional  force,  will  protect  and  facilitate  the  progress 
of  the  emigrants.  However  uninviting  may  be  the  vast  ex- 
tent of  prairies,  destitute  of  timber,  which  intervene  between 
the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Missouri  and  the  coun- 
try bordering  on  the  Stony  Mountains,  it  seems  impossible 
that  there  should  not  be  found  some  more  favored  spots  where 
settlements  may  be  formed.  If  these  were  selected  for  mili- 
tary posts,  and  donations  of  land  were  made  to  actual'  settlers 
in  their  vicinity,  a  series  of  villages,  though  probably  not  a 
continuity  of  settlements,  would  soon  arise  through  the  whole 
length  of  the  road.  The  most  important  place,  that  which  is 
most  wanted,  either  as  a  place  of  rest  for  the  emigrants  or  for 
military  purposes,  is  one  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Stony 
Mountains.  Reports  speak  favorably  of  the  fertility  of  the 
soil  in  some  of  the  valleys  of  the  upper  waters,  within  our 
limits— of  Bear's  river,  of  the  Rio  Colorado,  and  of  some  of  the 
northern  branches  of  the  river  Platte.  There,  also,  the  seat  of 
justice  might  he  placed  of  the  new  territory,  whose  courts 
should  have  superior  jurisdiction  over  Oregon.  The  measures 
which  the  United  States  have  a  right  to  carry  into  eftect  with- 
in the  territory  of  Oregon,  in  conformity  with  the  convention, 
are  the  neit  object  of  inquiry. 

The  only  positive  condition  of  that  instrument  is,  that  the  ter- 
ritory in  question  shall,  together  with  its  harbors,  bays,  and 
creeks,  and  the  navigation  of  all  rivers  within  the  same,  be  free 
and  open  to  vessels,  citizens,  and  subjects  of  the  two  Powers. 

For  the  construction  put  on  this  article  by  Great  Britain,  it 
is  necessary  to  recur  again  to  the  statement  of  her  claim,  as 
given  by  herself,  and  to  her  own  acts  subsequent  to  the  con- 
vention. 

The  acts  of  England,  subsequent  to  the  convention  of  1818, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  various  charters  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Co)npany,  (observing  that  some  of  their  most  important  pro- 
visions, though  of  a  much  earlier  date,  stand  unrepealed,)  and 
in  the  act  of  Parliament  of  the  year  1821,  which  confirms  and 
extends  a  prior  one  of  the  year  1803.  It  must  also  be  recol- 
lected that,  by  grants  or  acts  subsequent  to  the  convention,  the 
ancient  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  the  Northwest  Company 
of  Montreal  have  been  united  together,  preserving  the  name 
of  Hudson  Bay  Company. 

This  Company  was  and  remains  a  body  corporate  and  politic. 


Ill      .  I        — -I     J        I    ...MMII 


/'^ 


at 

with  provisioiis  Ibr  the  election  of  a  Ciovoriior  and  other  olii- 
cers,  who  direct  its  business;  and,  amongst  other  powers  t  e 
Company  is  empowered  to  build  fortifications  for  t'^iede  ence 
of  Its  possessions,  as  well  as  to  make  war  or  peace  wi  h  a  I  la^ 
tions  or  people  not  Christian,  inhabiting  tlieii  territories  whiH, 

TsTi "hetrisJrr^'r^r^"'-  ^y '•« -^ of pS.;.: I'o 

tPriJ  J»"sd'ct.on  of  the  courts  of  Upper  Canada  is  ex- 
tended, m  all  civil  and  criminal  cases,  to  .he  Oregon  ten  torv  • 
provision  is  made  for  the  appointment  of  justices^o  the  peace' 
to  act  as  r  ""'^  •^^"•^«'y'.-"h  a  limited  juiisdiction  and  p'^Ter 
erst  UpprcradT"  '"  "'^""  "^^^'^"^  '«  ^''"-^  ^^'^"'^ 

biddJn'ln  ^i''*'  ^^  observed,  that  although  the  Company  is  for- 
bidden to  claim  any  exclusive  trade  with  the  Ind  ans  to  the 
prejudice  or  exclusion  of  any  citizen  of  the  Uni  ed  S  at^s  w  o 
.nay  be  engaged  u.  the  same  trade,  yet  the  jurisSktirabove 
men  oned  is,  by  the  letter  of  the  act,  extended  to  any  person^ 
Br^hlrP?' '"*'? '"^  **•■  •'"i'fS  ^'^•'hin  the  said  territory'     The 
British  Plenipotentiaries  did,  however,  explicitly  declare    Im 
the  course  of  the  negotiations  of  1826-1827,  that  the  ac    ha 
no  other  object  but  .he  maintenance  of  order  amongst  Brir^s 
^he^Sj^tSrel"^^^^'^^"^"^""^^^  ^°  apply  to"?lt'':'f 
It  IS  perfectly  clear  that,  since  it  has  been  fully  admitted  that 
the  United  States  possess  the  same  rights  over  .^he    e    itorv  a! 
Great  Brif^.n,  they  are  fully  authorized,  under  t  e  crSon 
to  erijoy  all  the  rights  whic'h  Great  Britain  d^im^  for  S  ' 
and  to  exercise  that  jurisdiction  which  she  has  assumed  as 
being  consistent  with  the  convention.  assumed  as 

The  citizens  of  the  United  States  have,  therefore  at  this  tim*. 
a  full  and  acknowledged  right  to  navigate  the  water    of  tl^ 
Oregon  territory, /o  settle  in  and  over  any  pari  of  ti  and 
freely  to  trade  with  the  inhabitants  and  occopiCrs  of  the  s^me 
ttioipH  ,^°^«"""«"^  «f  »he  United  States  is  likewt  fully  au 
honzed  to  incorporate  any  company  or  association  of  men  f^r 

o  extend  he  jurisdiction  of  the  courfs  of  any  of  its  terrUories 
lying  within  Its  acknowledged  limil^  in  all  dvi  L  ch mina? 
cases,  to  the  territory  aforesaid;  to  appoint  within  the  same 
justices  of  the  peace  and  such  other  officers  as  may  ^e  necTs 
sary  for  carrying  the  jurisdiction  into  effect;  and  aL  to  make 
war  and  peace  with  the  Indian  inhabitants 'of  ^hetrritorvt. 

trfhe  o.rt"l'  P""'^  ''^^PP"'"^  *8«"'«f«r  that  purp'o  :' 
On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  to  be  understood  .hat    so  In  m 

Tav  dnt?'"'""r  ''""''"'  '"  f''^^'  "«""«r  Governn^'ei  t    haU 
merce    i;"  ''^^ '«"'^*Yy  .«»  tonnage,  merchandise,  i    com 
merce ,  nor  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  any  portion  of 


32 


! 


i 


It ;  and  that  llie  citixuiis  and  subjects  of  tlie  two  Powers  re* 
Niding  ni  or  removing  to  tlie  territory  shall  be  amenable  only 
to  the  jurisdiction  oC  their  own  country,  respectively. 

It  has  been  contended  by  the  British  Government  that  the 
establishment  of  any  military  post,  or  the  introduction  of  any 
regular  force  under  a  national  Hag,  by  either  Power,  would  bj 
an  act  ot  exclusive  sovereignty,  which  could  not  bo  permitted 
10  either  whilst  the  sovereignty  remained  in  abeyance.  Under 
existing  circumstances,  it  is  believed  that  such  an  act  would  be 
highly  dangerous,  and  prove  unfavorable  to  the  United  States. 

But  the  establishment  by  the  United  States  of  a  territorial 
governrnent  over  Oregon  is  also  objected  to  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple. The  want  of  such  government  appears  to  be  the  only 
serious  inconvenience  attending  a  continuance  ol  the  conven- 
tion, and  requires  special  consideration. 

The  United  States  have  the  same  right  as  Great  Britain,  and 
are  equally  hound,  to  protect  their  citizens  residing  in  the  Ore- 
gon territory  in  the  exercise  of  all  the  rights  secured  to  them 
by  the  convention.  It  has  been  fully  admitted  that  these  rights 
embrace  the  right  to  settle  in  and  over  any  part  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  that  to  be,  in  all  cases  whatever,  amenable  only  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  their  own  country.  The  subjects  of  Great 
Britahi,  who  are  not  in  the  employ  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, are  forbidden  to  trade  with  the  natives;  and  the  Com- 
pany does  in  fact  control  and  govern  all  the  British  subjects 
residing  in  the  territory.  This  gives  a  strong  guaranty  against 
the  violation,  by  rash  individuals,  of  the  rights  of  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States.  Should  any  of  theru,  however,  be  dis- 
turbed in  the  exercise  of  their  leguimate  rights,  and  the  Com- 
pany should  be  unable  or  unwilling  to  relieve  and  indemnify 
them,  the  United  States  would  be  justly  entitled  lo  appeal  to 
the  British  Government  for  the  redress  of  a  violation  of  rights 
secured  by  the  convention ;  for  the  British  Government  has 
preserved  a  control  over  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  does 
in  fact,  through  it,  govern  the  British  subjects  who  reside  in 
tlie  territory. 

The  United  States  are  placed,  in  that  respect,  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent situation.  It  is  not  believed  that  the  General  Govern- 
ment is  authorized  to  incorporate,  as  a  political  body,  a  com- 
reiercial  company,  with  such  powers  as  would  give  it  an  etti- 
cieut  control  over  the  private  citizens  residing  in  the  territory. 
Such  delegation  of  powers,  either  by  any  of  the  States  or  by 
Congress,  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  our  institutions.  The 
United  States  inay  indeed  give  to  their  citizens  in  Oregon  a 
regular  and  complete  judiciary  system;  and  they  may  also 
extend  to  them,  as  the  British  Government  has  done  on  its 
part,  the  laws  of  an  adjacent  territory.     But  an  executive  local 


•  ■■itmmmMimtm.'-'m.iui"'  ■.>)''a^' 


mf:^^-^fii  ».-'^'ij«tiii»ft..i^.,gijn<ji^.^ii>^j.f^  "'i'^^fe'jitia^.MCwg'fet^'?'!  ^^!ii^A'M-f.''&Ai'  J^C^'lf  *f"' 


'•*?^*T'r"^rfa 


I  H,'U. 


power  is  wanted  in  this  case,  as  it  is  everv  where  pU«  ,m,i-. 
any  form  of  government  whatever,  to  caS  the  Iws  to  be  ex 
ecuted  and  to  have  that  general  control  which  ir now  11^' 

e^iL  ^"tel^a""^"!^^^  Co^p.^^^The  BrS  Got 
l«li       :  .  ^^^  ^^^'*^^^  various  acts  of  a  public  though 

bZL  r'"'"'  r^'  *'  **P""'"»  ^««d«'  '"^king  bridge  'erect"S 
^      th«  i  r!'?'  ?'  Protectio,,  against  the  natives,  pfov  dTnTfo? 
the  destitute,  &c,  all  which  are  performed  by  the  H.rdson  H«v 
Company  and  cannot  be  accomnlished  by  iLula.ed  i.XS/ 

wLTJ''  "'  "^''  "'^■'•''='^^'°"  •'••  government         "'''"^"• 
tnrll\  ^"^  measures  may  be  devised,  other  than  a  terri 

onal  governinenf,  that  will  be  sufficient  for  the  pu  pose 

might  not  be  nicorporated  and  made  a  body  politic  with  of w 

and  w^rfh''"  ''  '^"''  T''^  *"  '^'  HudLf,  C;  Comp^anT 
or  Jn  '•«f«''v«»«"  by  the  General  Government  of  a  check 

c\Zn\  ^"*'*^g°»«  ^«  ♦hat  reserved  by  the  Government  of 

BrGrmBTilarhr^h""  ""^'y  ''  '"'^"^  consTdTrat  on 
nrp.nn?     ,,.".'^'"  j^^«  'h3  same  interest  as  the  United  States  to 

JnH'r    K°  •"'°".  1"""^  'h«  continuance  of  the  convention 
and  It  ,s  believed  that,  if  negotiations  should  be  renewed  wi?h 
an  equal  and  sincere  desire  on  both  sides  to  nreservrfri'pnJ  „ 
relations,  there  would  be  no  difficultv  at  th  ^  ffml  f  ^ 

possib  lilv  of  thr*'""'^^"'^'  ""'  P'^'''^'''"^'  prevon   nTthe 
ever  annLd  tn  h'^?^'"  l^^"""'"'^  ^^  '^^  United  States  being 

^^i^^:^  '^  -y  ^'^-  of^rss  s^tr^r 

lipTif®  "  *''«»her  important  subject  which  has  not,  it  is  be- 
lieved, ever  been  discussed  by  the  two  Powers     Thil  ;l  ,if 
claim  to  the  ownership  of  the 'places Te«i;dTnd  imj^oved  in' 

hmh   '  TT'T:     ^'  ^^^'"^  '«  >"«  that,  on  the  principles  of 
both  natural  and  international  law  these  ri  J^hu  .«     T  *    J 

extent,  should  be  respected  by  each  Power  res^eclivelv  th"'** 

sovereignty  over  the'portion'of  the  TerSylu'w^ch  Jich  iT 

olaL^'V  t^'^Son,  under  the  convention%Il  the  S  o  and 
hereafter  cla^m  or  acquire:  limiting  and  defining  the  Ltent  of 


fin,— 


34 


the  grant  in  the  same  manner  as  would  be  done  if  such  grant 
was  absolute;  and  promising  that  the  title  should  be  confiriiied, 
in  case  and  whenever  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  was 
recognised  or  asserted  and  maintained. 

The  prolongation,  in  1827,  of  the  convention  of  1818,  was 
evidently  intended  as  a  temporary  measure,  since  it  was  made 
revocable  at  the  will  of  either  party.  The  plenipotentiaries  of 
the  two  Powers  had  been  unable  to  agree  on  the  terms  of  a 
definitive  arrangement,  or  even  in  defining  with  precision  the 
conditions  on  which  the  convention  of  181S  might  be  contin- 
ued for  a  determinate  period.  It  will  be  seen,  by  reference  to 
the  protocols  and  correspondence,  that  although  it  was  general- 
ly admitted  that  neither  party  ought  during  such  continuance 
to  exercise  any  exclusive  sovereignty  over  the  territory,  the 
American  Plenipotentiary  declined  to  agree  to  any  convention 
containing  an  express  provision  to  that  effect,  or  accompanied 
by  the  insertion  in  the  protocol  of  a  dfclaration  for  the  same 
purpose  by  the  British  Plenipotentiaries.  The  reason  was  not 
only  because  an  exclusive  right  over  Astoria  and  its  depen- 
dencies was  claimed  by  the  United  Stat(  5,  but  principally  be- 
cause it  was  anticipated  that,  in  order  to  have  in  fact  an  au- 
thority equal  to  that  exercised  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company, 
it  would  become  necessary  for  the  United  States  to  perform 
acts  which  the  British  Government  might  contend  to  be  for- 
bidden by  such  express  provision  or  declaration.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  the  convention  recognises  some  certain  rights, 
and  imposes  no  positivv3  restrictions,  but  only  such  as  may  be 
supposed  to  be  implied  in  the  clause  which  declares  that  nothing 
contained  in  it  should  be  construed  to  impair  or  affect  the 
claims  of  either  party.  The  probability  that  it  might  become 
necessary  for  the  United  States  to  establish  a  territorial  or  some 
sort  of  government  over  their  own  citizens  was  explicitly 
avowed;  the  deficiencies  of  the  renewed  convention  of  1327, 
and  the  inconveniences  which  might  ensue,  were  fully  under- 
stood; and  the  continuance  of  that  of  1818,  made  revocable 
at  will,  was  agreed  on,  with  the  hope  that  the  two  Powers 
would  embrace  an  early  opportunity,  if  not  to  make  a  defini- 
tive arrangement,  at  least  to  substitute  for  the  convention 
another,  defining  with  precision  the  acts  which  both  parties 
should  be  allowed  or  forbidden  to  perform  so  long  as  the  sove- 
reignty remained  in  abeyance. 

The  inconveniences  alluded  to  have  been  fairly  stated  in  this 
paper,  and  some  of  the  means  by  which  they  may  be  avoided 
have  been  suggested.  It  is  not,  therefore,  on  account  of  the 
intrinsic  value  of  the  convention  that  its  abrogation  is  ob- 
jectionable and  dangerous.  It  is  because  nothing  is  substituted 
in  its  place ;  it  is  because,  if  the  two  Powers  are  not  yet  pre- 


I  ^l*|,T';^'^'*^%iMji  0>^J*WgJ!'<iiWj|W>t»fq  Vf[^^ro-^'**r 


r^7^■^-■r4S«r^J? 


•mmt 


r 


such  grant 
couiiriiied, 
Stales  was 

1818,  was 
was  made 
iiitiaries  of 
terms  of  a 
ecision  the 
be  contin- 
;fereiice  to 
as  geiieral- 
oiitinuaiice 
rritory,  the 
onvention 
;ompaiiied 
r  the  same 
m  was  not 
its  depen- 
cipally  be- 
act  an  au- 
Conipany, 
to  perform 
to  be  for- 
Fhe  conse- 
lain  rightii, 
as  may  be 
at  nothing 
affect  the 
ht  become 
Lai  or  some 
explicitly 
n  of  1827, 
illy  under- 
revocable 
vo  Powers 
:e  a  defini- 
jonvention 
)th  parties 
s  the  sove- 

ited  in  this 
be  avoided 
unt  of  the 
;ion  is  ob- 
substituted 
ot  yet  pre- 


35 

pared  to  make  a  definitive  agreement,  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
both  Governments,  instead  of  breaking  the  only  barrier  which 
still  preserves  peace,  to  substitute  for  the  existing  convention 
one  adapted  to  the  present  state  of  things,  and  which  shall  pre- 
vent collisions  until  the  question  of  sovereignty  shall  have 
been  settled.     The  inconveniences  which  were  only  anticipated 
have  become  tanjrible,  from  the  time  when  American  citizens 
whom  tho  United  States  are  bound  to  protect,  began  to  make 
settlements  in  the  territory  of  Oregon.     The  suddnn  transition 
Iroman  agreement,  however  defective,  to  a  promiscuous  occu' 
pancy,  without  any  provisions  whatever  (hat  may  prevent  col- 
lisions,  IS  highly  dangerous.     When  this  is  accompanied  by  an 
avowed  determination  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  as- 
sume that  exclusive  sovereignty  which  Groat  Britain  has  posi- 
lively  declared  she  would  resist,  war  becomes  inevitable. 


NO.    V. 


It  may  not  be  possible  to  calculate,  with  any  degree  cf  cer- 
tainty, the  number  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  who,  aided 
by  these  various  measures,  will,  within  any  given  period  re- 
move  to  the  territory  beyond  the  Stony  Mountains.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  lis  number  will  annually  increase,  and  keep  pace 
with  the  rapid  increase  of  the  population  of  the  Western  States 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  ultimately,  and  at  no  very  distant 
time,  they  will  have  possession  of  all  that  is  worth  being  oc- 
cupied in  the  territory.  On  what  principle,  then,  will  the  rieht 
of  sovereignty  be  decided  ? 

It  may,  however,  be  asked  whether,  if  this  be  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  the  continuance  of  the  convention,  England 
will  not  herself  give  notice  that  it  shall  be  abrogated.     It  mi^^ht 
be  sufficient  to  answer,  that  we  must  wait  till  that  notice  slfall 
have  been  given,  and  the  subsequent  measures  which  England 
means  to  adopt  shall  have  been  mdde  known  to  us,  before  we 
assume  rashly  a  hostile  position.     The  United  States  may  gov- 
ern themselves ;  although  thev  may  irritate  Great  Britain  they 
cannot  control  the  acts  of  her  Government.     The  British  Gov- 
ernment will  do  whatever  it  may  think  proper ;  but  for  the 
consequences  that  may  ensue   it  will  be  alone  responsible 
Should  the  abrogation  of  the  convention  on  her  part  be  fol- 
lowed by  aggressive  measures ;  should  she  assume  exclusive 
possession  over  Oregon,  or  any  part  of  it,  as  it  is  now  proposed 
that  the  United  States  should  do,  America  will  then  be  placed  in 
a  defensive  position  ;  the  war,  if  any  should  ensue,  will  be  one 
unprovoked  by  her,  a  war  purely  of  defence,  which  will  be  not 
only  sustained,  but  approved  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 


^w 


36 


1-^ 


nation.  We  may,  however,  bo  pormilled  to  examine  what 
motive  could  impel  England,  what  interest  she  might  have, 
cither  in  annulling  the  convention  or  in  adopting  aggressive 
mensuros. 

When  it  is  recommended  that  the  United  Stales  should  give 
notice  of  the  abrogation  of  the  convention,  it  is  with  the  avow- 
ed object  of  adopting  measures  forbidden  by  the  convention, 
and  which  Great  Britain  has  uniformly  declared  she  would 
resist.     But,  according  to  the  view  of  the  subject  uniformly 
taken  by  her,  from  the  first  time  she  asserted  the  rights  she 
claims  to  this  day,  the  simple  abrogation  of  her  convention 
with  the  United  States  will  produce  no  effect  whatever  on  the 
rights,  relations,  and  position  of  the  two  Powers.     Great  Brit- 
ain, from  the  date  at  least  of  Cook's  third  voyage,  and  prior  to 
the  Nootka  convention,  did  deny  the  exclusive  claim  of  Spain, 
and  assert  that  her  subjects  had,  in  common  with  those  of  other 
Stales,  the  right  freely  to  trade  with  the  natives  and  to  settle 
in  any  part  of  the  Northwestern  coast  of  America  not  already 
occupied  by  the  subjects  of  Spain.     The  Nootka  convention 
was  nothing  more  than  the  acquiescence,  on  the  part  of  Spain, 
in  the  claims  thus  asserted  by  Great  Britain,  leaving  the  sov- 
ereignty in  abeyance.    And  the  convention  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  tem- 
porary recognition  of  the  same  principle,  so  far  as  the  two  par- 
ties were  concerned.     England  had,  prior  to  that  conveiuion, 
fully  admitted  that  the  United  Stales  possessed  the  same  rights 
as  were  claimed  by  her.     The  abrogation  of  the  convention  by 
her  will  leave  those  rights  precisely  in  the  same  situation  as 
they  now  stand,  and  as  they  stood  prior  to  the  convention.    It 
cannot  therefore  be  perceived  what  possible  benefit  could  ac- 
crue to  Great  Britain  from  her  abrogation  of  that  instrument ; 
unless,  discarding  all  her  former  declarations  ;  denying  all  that 
she  has  asserted  for  more  than  sixty  years;  retracting  her  ad- 
mission of  the  equal  rights  of  the  United  States  to  trade,  to  oc- 
cupy, and  to  make  settlemefits  in  any  part  of  the  country — she 
should,  without  cause  or  pretext,  assume,  as  is  now  threatened 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  exclusive  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  or  part  of  the  territory.     It  may  be  permitted  to  believe 
that  the  British  Government  eriterlains  no  such  intention. 

It  may  also  be  observed  rhsi.  England  has  heretofore  evinced 
no  disposition  whatever  to  !;olonize  the  territory  in  question. 
She  has,  indeed,  declared  most  explicitly  her  determination  t" 
protect  the  British  interests  that  had  been  created  by  British 
enterprise  and  capital  in  that  quarter.  But,  by  giving  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  fur  trade  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  she  has 
virtually  arrested  private  efforts  on  the  part  of  British  subjects. 
Her  Government  has  been  in  every  other  respect  altogether  in- 


E  M> 


9 


B    «-««»• 


%" 


"^ 


:{7 


active,  mid  apparently  caroless  ubom  tlic  ultimate  fnle  of  ()r«>- 
goii.  Tliu  country  has  been  opon  to  her  enterprise  at  least  fifty 
years ;  and  there  are  no  other  Hritish  settlements  or  interests 
within  its  Hunts  than  those  vested  in  or  coiuiected  with  the 
Hudson  Hay  Company.  Whether  the  British  Uovernment 
will  hereafter  make  any  effort  towards  that  object  cannot  bo 
known  ;  but  as  long  as  this  right  to  colonize  Oregon  shall  re- 
main  common  to  both  Powers,  the  United  States  have  nothing 
to  apprehend  from  the  competition.  The  negotiations  on  that 
subject  between  the  two  Governments  have  been  carried  on, 
on  bcth  sides,  with  perfect  candor.  The  views  and  intentions 
of  both  parties  were  mutually  communicated  without  reserve. 
The  conviction  on  the  part  of  America  that  the  coimtry  must 
ultimately  he  occupied  and  settled  by  her  agricultural  emigrants, 
was  used  as  an  argument  why,  in  case  of  a  division  of  the  ter- 
ritory, the  greater  share  should  be  allotted  to  the  United  States. 
The  following  quotation,  from  the  American  statement  of  the 
case  of  December,  1826,  proves  that  this  expectation  was  fairly 
avowed  at  the  time  : 

"  If  the  present  itatc  of  oroupanry  is  urged  on  the  part  of  Great  Uritain,  theprol>- 
ability  of  the  manner  in  which  the  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  must  lie 
settled  Ijelongs  alio  essentially  to  the  subjert.  Under  whatever  nominal  sovereignty 
that  country  may  be  placed,  and  whatever  its  ultimat«  destinies  may  be,  it  is  n«'sr|y 
reduced  to  a  certainty  that  it  will  bo  almost  exclusively  peopled  by  the  surplus  pon- 
ulation  of  the  United  States.  The  distance  from  Great  Britain,  and  the  expense  in- 
cident to  emigration,  forbid  the  expectation  of  any  being  practicable  from  that  quai- 
ter  but  on  a  comparatively  small  scale.  Allowing  the  rate  of  increase  to  be  the 
same  in  the  United  States  and  in  the  North  American  British  possessions,  the  dif> 
ference  in  the  actual  population  of  both  is  such  that  the  progressive  rate  which  would 
within  forty  years  add  three  millions  to  these,  would  within  the  same  time  give  a 
positive  increase  of  more  than  twenty  millions  to  the  United  States.  And  if  cir- 
cumstances,  arising  from  localities  and  habits,  have  given  superior  facilities  to  Brit- 
ish subjects  of  extending  their  commerce  with  the  natives,  and  to  that  expansion 
which  has  the  appearance,  and  the  appearance  only,  of  occupancy,  the  slower  but 
sure  progress  and  extension  of  an  agricultural  population  will  be  regulated  by  dis- 
tance, by  natural  obstacles,  and  by  its  own  amount." 

There  was  no  exaggeration  in  that  comparative  view  ;  the 
superiority  of  the  progressive  increase  of  population  in  the 
United  States  was,  on  the  contrary,  underrated.  The  essential 
difference  is,  that  migration  from  the  United  States  to  Oregon 
is  the  result  of  purely  natural  causes,  whilst  England,  in  order 
to  colonize  that  country,  must  resort  to  artificial  means.  The 
number  of  American  emigrants  may  not,  during  the  first  next 
ensuing  years,  be  as  great  as  seems  to  be  anticipated.  It  will 
at  first  be  limited  by  ihe  amount  of  provisions  with  which  the 
earlier  settlers  can  supply  them  during  the  first  year,  and  till 
they  can  raise  a  crop  themselves ;  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
a  new  country  may  be  settled  is  also  lessened  where  maize 
cannot  be  profitably  cultivated. 


'"i 

i 


7^ 


'*- 


'%■ 


38 


'^ 


I 


Whether  more  or  less  prompt,  the  result  is  nevert^^•les8  in- 
dubitable. The  snowball  sooner  or  later  becomes  an  ava- 
lanche. Where  the  cultivator  of  the  soil  has  once  made  a  per- 
manent establishment,  game  and  hunters  disappear.  Within 
a  few  years  the  fur  trade  will  have  died  its  natural  death,  and 
no  vestige  shall  remain,  at  least  south  of  Fuca's  Straits,  of  that 
temporary  occupancy,  of  those  vested  British  interests,  which 
the  British  Government  is  now  bound  to  protect.  When  the 
whole  territory  shall  have  thus  fallen  in  the  possession  of  an 
agricultural  industrious  population,  the  question  recurs,  by 
what  principle  will  then  the  right  of  sovereignty  all  along  kept 
in  abeyance  be  determined? 

The  answer  is  obvious.  In  conformity  with  natural  law, 
with  that  right  of  occupancy  for  which  Great  Britain  has  al- 
ways contended,  the  occupiers  of  the  land,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country,  from  whatever  quarter  they  may  have  come,  will 
he  of  right  as  well  as  h\  fact  the  sole  legitimate  sovereigns  of 
Oregon.  Whenever  sufficiently  numerous,  they  will  decide 
whether  it  suits  them  best  to  be  an  independent  nation  or  an 
integral  part  of  onr  great  Republic.  There  cannot  be  the 
slightest  apprehension  that  they  will  choose  to  become  a  de- 
pendant colony ;  for  they  will  be  the  most  powerful  nation 
bordering  on  the  American  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and  will  not 
stand  in  noed  of  protection  against  either  their  Russian  or 
Mexican  neighbors.  Viewed  as  an  abstract  proposition,  Mr. 
Jefferson's  opinio'i  appears  correct,  that  it  will  be  best  for  both, 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  American  nations,  whilst  enter- 
taining the  most  friendly  relations,  to  remain  independent, 
rather  than  to  be  united  undjr  the  same  Government.  But 
this  conclusion  is  premature;  and  the  decision  must  be  left  to 
posterity. 

It  has  been  attempted  in  these  papers  to  prove — 

1st.  That  neither  of  the  two  Powers  has  an  absolute  and 
indisputable  right  to  the  whole  contested  territory;  that  each 
may  recede  from  its  extreme  pretensions  whhout  impairing 
national  honor  or  wounding  national  pride;  and  that  the  way 
is  therefore  still  open  for  a  renewal  of  negotiations. 

2d.  That  the  avowed  object  of  the  United  States,  in  giving 
notice  of  the  abrogation  of  the  convention,  is  the  determina- 
tion to  assert  and  maintain  their  assumed  right  of  absolute  and 
exclusive  sovereignty  over  the  whole  territory ;  that  Great  Brit- 
ain is  fully  committed  on  that  point,  and  has  constantly  and 
explicitly  declared  that  such  an  attempt  would  he  resisted,  and 
the  British  interests  in  that  quarter  be  protected  ;  ^nd  that  war 
is  therefore  the  una"oidable  consequence  of  such  a  decisive 
step — a  war  not  only  necessarily  calamitous  and  expensive, 
but  in  its  character  aggressive,  not  justifiable  by  the  magni- 


.^ 


..^^'^'^Mi^itii^tta-i  J^ ^^Mni*. ,  f. 


^f*'T'"-r,  •    '^'~  T''"''^^ir^" 


'-f^^^^ir^4^^ 


-wm-T«^.?-v ,- T,-; 


ertht'less  in- 
les  an  ava- 
made  a  per- 
ar.  Within 
il  death,  and 
traits,  of  that 
•rests,  which 
When  the 
ession  of  an 
1  recurs,  by 
ill  along  kept 

natural  law, 
Iritain  has  al- 
nhabitants  of 
ve  come,  will 
sovereigns  of 
y  will  decide 
t  nation  or  an 
annot  be  the 
become  a  de- 
iwerful  nation 
c,  and  will  not 
ir  Russian  or 
reposition,  Mr. 
e  best  for  both 
3,  whilst  enter- 
independent, 
ernment.     But 
must  be  'eft  to 

'e —    "'  ■ .'    •:-■'". 

1  absolute  and 

ory;  that  each 

hout  impairing 

id  that  the  way 

ions. 

States,  in  giving 

the  determina- 
;  of  absolute  and 

that  Great  Brit- 
!  constantly  and 
[  be  resisted,  and 
d  ',  ^nd  that  war 
such  a  decisive 

and  expensive, 

by  the  magni- 


-ts 


39 


tude  and  importance  of  its  object,  and  of  which  the  chances 
are  uncertain. 

'3d.  Thai  the  inconveniences  of  the  present  state  of  things 
may  in  a  great  degree  be  avoided;  that,  if  no  war  should 
ensue,  they  will  be  the  same,  if  not  greater,  without  than 
under  a  convention  :  that  not  a  single  object  can  be  gained  by 
giving  the  notice  at  this  lime,  unless  it  be  to  do  something  not 
permitted  by  the  present  convention,  and  therefore  provoking 
resistance  and  productive  of  war.  If  a  single  other  advantage 
^^  can  be  gained  by  giving  the  notice,  let  it  be  stated. 

4th.  That  it  has  been  fully  admitted  by  Great  Britain,  that, 
whether  under  or  without  a  convention,  the  United  States 
have  the  same  rights  «a  herself,  to  trade,  to  navigate,  and  to 
occupy  and  make  settlements  in  and  over  every  part  of  the 
territory;  and  that,  if  this  s'ate  of  things  be  not  disturbed, 
natural  causes  must  necessarily  give  the  whole  territorv  to  the 
United  States. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  only  asked,  that  the  subject 
may  be  postponed  for  the  present;  that  Government  siiould 
not  commit  itself  by  any  premature  act  or  declaration  ;  that, 
instead  of  i:, creasing  the  irritation  and  excitement  which  exist 
on  both  sides,  time  be  given  for  mutual  reflection,  and  for  the 
subdual  or  subsidence  of  angry  and  violent  feelings.  Then, 
and  then  only,  can  the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  American 
people  on  this  momentous  question  be  truly  ascertained.  It  is 
not  perceived  how  the  postponement  for  the  present  and  for  a 
time  can,  in  any  shape  or  in  the  sliglnest  deeree.  injure  the 
United  States.  b      «     j 

It  is  certainly  true  that  England  is  very  powerful,  and  has 
ufieri  abused  her  power,  in  no  case  in  a  niore  outrageous  man- 
ner than  by  tht  impressment  of  seamen,  whether  American, 
English,  or  other  foreigners,  sailing  under  and  protected  by  the 
American  flag.  I  am  not  aware  that  there  has  ever  been  any 
powerful  nation,  even  in  modern  times,  and  professing  Chris- 
tiaiiity,  which  has  not  occasionally  abused  its  power.  The 
•  United  States,  who  always  appealed  to  justice  during  their 
early  youth,  seem,  as  their  strength  and  power  increase,  to  give 
symptoms  of  a  similar  disposition.  Instead  of  useless  and 
dangerous  recriminations,  inight  not  the  two  nations,  by  their 
united  efforts,  promote  a  great  object,  and  worthy  of  their  ele- 
vated situation  ? 

With  the  single  exception  of  the  territorv  of  Oregon,  which 
extends  from  42  to  54  degrees  40  minutes  north  latitude,  all 
the  American  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  Cape  Horn  to 
Behring's  Straits,  are  occupied,  on  the  north  by  the  factories 
of  the  Russian  Fur  Company,  southwardly  by  semi-civilized 
States,  a  mixture  of  Europeans  of  Spanish  descent  and  oi  nti 


m 


40 


live  Indians,  who,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  enlightened, 
intelligent,  and  liberal  men,  have  heretofore  failed  in  the  at- 
tempt to  establish  ^jvernments  founded  on  law,*ihat  might 
ensure  liberty,  preserve  order,  and  protect  persons  and  prop- 
erly. It  is  in  Oregon  alone  that  we  may  hope  to  see  a  portion 
of  the  western  shores  of  America  occupied  and  inhabited  by 
an  active  an  .^  etiiightoned  nation,  which  may  exercise  a  moral 
influence  ovor  her  less-favored  neighbors,  and  extend  to  them 
the  benefits  of  a  more  advanced  civilization.  It  is  on  that 
account  that  the  wish  has  been  expressed  that  the  Oregon  ter- 
ritory may  not  be  divided.  The  United  States  and  England 
are  the  only  Powers  who  lay  any  claim  to  that  country,  the 
only  nations  which  may  and  must  inhabit  it.  It  is  not,  fortu- 
nately, in  the  power  of  either  Government  to  prevent  this 
taking  place ;  but  it  depends  upon  them  whether  they  shall 
unite  in  promoting  the  object,  or  whether  they  shall  bring  on 
both  countries  the  calamities  of  an  useless  war,  which  may 
retard  but  not  prevent  the  ultimate  result.  It  matters  but 
little  whether  the  inhabitants  shall  come  from  England  or 
from  the  United  States.  It  would  seem  that  more  importance 
might  be  attached  to  the  fact  tliat,  within  a  period  of  fifteen 
years,  near  one  million  of  soiils  are  now  added  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  by  migrations  from  the  dominions  of 
Great  Britain;  yet,  sinre  peimitted  by  both  Powers,  they  may 
be  presumed  to  be  beneficial  to  both.  The  emigrants  to  Ore- 
gon, whether  Americans  or  English,  will  be  united  toge'lK  r 
by  the  community  of  language  and  literature,  of  the  principlss 
of  law,  and  of  all  the  fundamental  elements  of  a  similar  civili- 
zation. 

The  establishment  of  a  kindred  and  friendly  Power  on  the 
Northwest  Coasi  of  America  is  all  that  England  can  expect, 
all  perhaps  that  the  United  States  ought  to  desire.  It  seems 
almost  increcMble  that,  whilst  that  object  may  be  attained  by 
simply  not  impeding  the  eflect  of  natural  causes,  two  kindred 
nations,  having  such  powerful  motives  to  remain  at  peace, 
and  standing  at  the  head  of  European  and  American  civiliza- 
tion, should,  in  this  enlightened  age,  give  to  the  world  the 
scandalous  spectacle,  perhaps  not  unwelcome  to  some  of  the 
beholders,  of  an  unnatural  and  unnecessary  war ;  that  they 
should  apply  all  their  faculties  and  exhaust  their  resources  in 
inflicting  each  on  the  other  every  injury  in  their  power,  and  for 
what  purpose  ?  The  certain  consequence,  independein  of  all 
the  direct  calamities  and  miseries  of  war,  will  be  a  mutual 
increase  of  debt  and  taxation,  and  the  ultimate  fate  of  Oregon 
will  be  the  same  as  if  the  war  had  not  taken  place. 

ALBERT  GALLATIN. 


lightened, 
in  the  at- 
hat  might 
and  prop- 
!  a  portion 
talked  by 
se  a  moral 
nd  to  them 
is  on  that 
)regon  ter- 
d  England 
juntry,  the 
not,  fortu- 
revent  this 
they  shall 
ill  bring  on 
svhich  may 
matters   but 
Sngland  or 
importance 
d  of  fifteen 
the  popula- 
aniinions  of 
s,  they  may 
ints  to  Gre- 
ed toge»li€r 
e  principles 
milar  civili- 

3wer  on  the 

can  expect, 
e.     It  seems 

attained  by 
two  kindred 
in  at  peace, 
can  civiliza- 
e  world  the 

some  of  the 
r ;  that  they 

resources  in 
(wer,  and  for 
iendeii>  of  all 
be  a  mutual 
lie  of  Oregon 

LLATIN. 


« 


# 


*-?*#j«:^*- 


